America's Sweetheart Did WHAT!
by RomanceNovelAddict13
Summary: One runaway uptight undercover movie star, one anoying rebellious juvinile delinquent, and one huge island full of crazy campers. It doesn't get much weirder then this. DxC
1. Sweet Sixteen

**A/N: Okay everyone, this is my first fanfic so let me know what you think! This chapter just sets up the story to come and so does the next one (although the 2****nd**** chap is much, much longer, like I hope my others will be). I promise ill get into the CxD stuff as soon as they get on the island in chap 3! Quite frankly that show just doesn't show enough of those tow to satisfy my, and I **_**hate**_** how they voted Courtney off. I'll try and stick to the story as much as I can, but obviously a few things are going to have to change. I'll write about the non-challenge days too.**

**And now, on with the story!**

Sweet Sixteen

Courtney POV

"Imported Silk Curtains?"

"Check."

"Diamond studded gold silverware?"

"Check."

"5 gallon chocolate fountain and 10 gallons of melted Godiva dark chocolate?"

"Check, and check."

This was it. Today was the day of my 16th birthday party that I had spent the last two months straight planning for. Sure, I could have hired a party planner to do all the work for my, but then I wouldn't have gotten that sense of pride and accomplishment now would I? Besides, planning this was a chance to make myself stronger and built skills I haven't used before, and how could I say on to that?

I was in the ballroom where my party was being held that night making sure everything was perfect. After all the build up to it, perfect was the only thing it could be.

For the past few weeks all of the teen magazines had gossiping about how "America's Sweetheart" was having her Masquerade Ball Sweet Sixteen party at the Chateau Marmount. And they should be talking about it, because it was going to be incredible. All of hottest teen celebrities were going to be there and there was going to be a performance by The Killers, Jonas Brothers, and Avril Lavigne. The food was being cooked by some of the top chiefs in the country and I had a vanilla cake that was 3 feet high. The press was allowed to come in to take pictures and get quotes for the first hour of the night but after that it was guests only. This party had enough publicity as it was to get over all the papers tomorrow so there was no need to have my gusts bothered by the paparazzi all night just to add to its already enormous reputation.

"Wow Courtney, this party is going to be so incredible!" Jen said, with an aw-struck look on her face, as she looked around at all the party preparations going on around the room.

Jen is and has been my best friend since kindergarten. Back then, when they were still popular, I was obsessed with Nsync, and Just celebrities in general. I guess it was because always wanted to be one of them, which I eventually did once I got the starring role in the Disney Channel Series _The Secret Life of Jesse Morgan. _So naturally, when Jen walked in with an Nsync t-shirt on we instantly clicked and have been BFF's ever since.

"I know! I can't wait." Even as I said the words I knew I didn't mean them, I was just acting again. And if anyone could tell the difference between my acting and what was real, it was Jen.

"Courtney, is everything OK?" Jen asked sounding sincere.

"I'm fine" I lied.

"OK then" Jen said giving me a funny look like she wasn't really convinced.

I honestly didn't get what was wrong with me, I just really wasn't that excited. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't seem to work myself up about it. I always had threat nagging feeling like something was missing. But what? As far as I could tell everything was perfect so there was no reason _not_ to get worked up.

This was the day I had spent so long planning for, and it was going to be the best night of my life. Just me and 500 of my closest friends. Well, friends and acquaintances anyways. If I was going to have a Hollywood-style party there had to be a lot of people there, otherwise it was just like any normal girls birthday party. And if I wanted to keep myself on the A-list, normal just wasn't going to cut it. I'm Courtney Addison for goodness sake; it's what people expect of me.

_But is this what _I_ want?_ What?!?! Of course it's what I want, after how hard I've worked to get where I am. I fully intend on living the great life that I've created, a life that's extravagant and perfect. I couldn't believe I would even think such a thing. I shook my head, quickly dismissing the thought. Why would I even question that in the first place?

As I was scanning over the room, making sure everything was being carried out exactly as it should be, I noted the time on the clock hanging at the back of the room.

"Oh my God!" I screeched. " I need to leave now if I'm going to be ready in time for my party!" I screeched. What kind of hostess is late to her own gathering?!?!!?

"Courtney, calm down, you still have 4 hours," exclaimed Jen.

"Exactly! You can't rush perfection" I said over my shoulder, already halfway to the door. "See you at the party!"

"I wouldn't miss it for the word."

* * *

I ran into Golden Locks at top speed, just missing running into the frond desk.

"Wait," the receptionist called after me, "you need an appointment to get in!" I could have told her I already had one but I was already running late, and I couldn't spare a moment of time. After all, I needed to look flawless, and that doesn't just happen on its own.

As I rounded the corner I crashed into one of the best hairdressers in the whole world.

"It's okay Mary, she's with me" Evan said. I turned around to find that the receptionist was still following me. Mary blushed and turned to walk back to her desk.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk. Courtney, your late." He said, an amused smile playing at his lips. He knew as well as anyone that I was never late to an appointment. "How will we ever have enough time now?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something, Evan. After all you are my Hairdresser Angel."

Evan Mitchell was one of the hottest hairdressers out there at the moment, and that was partly thanks to me. Once the word got out that he was my stylist, everyone wanted him. Of course not to say that he didn't have talent, because he was one of the best hairdressers I knew, and the only one I would go to after that little "mishap" when I was 10.

-Flashback-

"Mom, what am I going to doooooo!" I sobbed, looking at my train wreck of a hair cut in the mirror through my tear filled eyes.

My haircut was a complete disaster! For a month, I anticipated being able to go to one of Hollywood's best hair stylists, only to get there and have my silky golden hair completely ruined. The stylist had given me a cut that looked as if he took a knife to my hair and swung it aimlessly, cutting of random pieces here and there. He had claimed it was his "wild look", even putting in so streak of bright colors here and there. What was he thinking?! It was completely horrible! How was I ever going to land that part on _The Secret Life of Jesse Morgan _with my hair looking like this?!

We only had a 2 hour lefts until the audition, so my mom drove a few miles out of LA, far away form all of the so called "celebrity stylists", and pulled into a parking space in front of the JCPenny salon. When we walked in the receptionist jumped out of her chair and ran over to us.

"Oh you poor child!" she cried, "I know just who you need." She led me back into the salon and sat my down in one of the chairs. A moment later, a 20 something man came over and looked at my hair with an apologetic look.

"Oh my, it looks like I have my work cut out for me" he said in a playful tone, trying to lighten the mood.

"D-d-do you think you can f-fix it" I choked out through my sobs.

"Of course! Evan Mitchell can fix anything."

And he did. 20 minutes later I was sitting there with one of the best haircuts I had ever seen. It was so cute! And the casting crew for _The Secret Life of Jesse Morgan _thought so too. They cast me as the lead role, and I partly had Evan to thank for it.

-End of Flashback-

I called him a "Hairdresser Angel" when I saw my amazing haircut in the mirror, so that's what I've been calling him ever since.

"Well, if we're going to have you looking runway-ready by you party the I'm going to have to call in all the experts," he said, his amused smile growing into a full out smirk.

"Sounds good to me,"

When he said all of the experts, he really meant _all of them_. I had people working on me head to foot. Manicures, pedicures, waxing, plucking, and curling, as well as having my make-up done, each by a different person, simultaneously.

After 3 hours, I was finally done, and I looked gorgeous! My nails were shining a brilliant gold, I had the softest petal pink lips, and super-sexy purple smoky eyes. My hair was done up in a bun, with curly wisps framing my face, adding to my beauty in a way that made me look innocent and sweet. It was far better then anything the beauty crews had done for when I was being filmed on camera.

"Wow," I said, my awestruck state clearly showing in my voice.

"Ready to see your dress?" asked Evan, obviously curious to see it himself after having herd me rave about it for the last 2 months.

"Yes!" I cried, shaking with anticipation. I couldn't wait to see what Vera Wang had created for me. It was going to be pink, shimmery, and drape across my body ever so-

Evan pulled off the cover to the dress and my jaw dropped. It was…. Horrifying! Everything about it was all wrong. It was Pepto-Bismol pink with a skirt that had more poof to it then I thought was physically possible. Bunches of fabric were gathered in random place all over the skirt and bodice; it looked like my "celebrity haircut" all over again. What was with these so called brilliant designers anyways?!?!?

The room was dead silent until someone finally spoke up after the shock had started the wear off.

"Well… it's not that bad" I was so far gone at that point I wasn't even fully aware of who said it.

"Not that bad. NOT THAT BAD!" I yelled, "The thing is like some messed up version of a dress made for the tooth fairy!" This could not be happening. I had only an hour left until my party and no dress to wear. I wracked my brain desperately for a solution but I came up with nothing. There was absolutely nothing I could do. My big night was going to be ruined and I couldn't to anything to change it.

I started to hyperventilate.

"Courtney, calm down. Let's just think through this logically, I'm sure we can come up with some kind of solution," Evan said trying to get me to relax a little. What, did he really think I hadn't already done that already? Maybe not in the mood he wanted but like that was really going to make a difference. Besides, I didn't have time to calm down, I was already running out of time!

"I think I know some place you might be able to get a new dress," Mary, the receptionist, piped in. "There's this new place a few blocks south of Rodeo Drive that all of my friends have been raving about, called Sparkle. It might have a dress that you could wear to your party"

"I can't just go BUY a new dress! Are you CRAZY?!?! It has to be an ORIGONAL, not one that's mass produced in EVERY FRICKING COLOR!" This woman was simply loony, there was no other explanation. Did she not know who I was?!

"It's either that or not go to your party at all" Evan said in that all-knowing tine of his. "Which will it be?"

I hate ultimatums

"Fine" I huffed.

On the car ride over to Sparkle, I used the time to try and focus all of my overpowering feelings into determination to find a solution to my problems. Although I couldn't fully calm down, I could still use my bad mood to my advantage. Doing this little trick over the years was probably one of the reasons I became so successful in the first place. I've even wrote a book about it last year.

As soon as the car pulled up to the curb I flew out of my seat and into the shop, determined not to waste any more time. When I got into the shop I sought out an employee, not patient enough at the moment to wait for them to come to me.

"I need a dress RIGHT NOW." I said to the general direction of the store employees, "What are you staring at? Don't just stand there, for goodness sakes, DO SOMETHING!" I screeched, bordering hysterical.

Y-y-yess, ma'am. Why don't you sit down there and make yourself comfortable while I bring you some dresses. Size 6, right?" she stuttered.

DO I LOOK THAT BIG TO YOU?!" I boomed, and then lowered my voice, suddenly remembering my nickname as "America's Sweetheart". "I am a four, and thank you; I will go make myself comfortable." I smiled at her, though by the way she cringed I'm sure it came out more malevolent then pleasant. I just hope there wasn't a picture in tomorrow morning's paper of me smiling like the Joker.

I sank down on a comfy looking chair in front of the dressing rooms and fumed. Couldn't these people do anything right? I was in the middle of a wardrobe crisis her, how could they not understand that.

"Here you are" said the saleswoman as she walked up with a rack full of dresses for me to try on.

"Took you long enough," I muttered. She was _so_ getting a bad review.

I had put on so many dresses to count in so little time, I had probably broken a world record of some kind. And I still hadn't found a dress I liked. I was just about to yell at the woman again about how this store had absolutely _no_ fashion sense when I spotted another dress on the rack that I hadn't seen before. I took it in to the dressing room sliding the silky fabric over my head and onto my body.

"How does it fit?" asked the saleswoman, sounding hopeful.

"It's perfect."

* * *

After all that time, I was finally ready. Sitting in my limo, I looked the gorgeous movie star I was. I had on an elegant pink dress that appeared to be ordinary, but was far from it. It looked plain fairly plain in the dim limo lights, but when it got in just the right lighting, it sparked like it was covered in millions of tiny diamonds. The dress hugged me just enough to show I had a good body but still looked conservative. After all, I had to keep up my goody-goody image; being scandalous just wasn't the way I did things. But no one said being conservative couldn't be glamorous. Only the best for Courtney Addison.

As soon as we were a block away from the party, I could already hear the music blasting and feel the base thumping through my seat. The limo pulled up in front of the hotel, and the flashes of cameras blinded my view outside the window. Everyone wanted to get a picture of the birthday girl. Confident as always, I took a deep breath and put on another one of my Emmy-winning smiles.

Now it was time for my grand red carpet entrance.

**A/N: okay so that was it, I hope you like it! Please review so I know how it was, and if I should continue with it! If you have any ideas about things you'd like to see happen please tell ne! I'd love to try and put something else in. I'll try and update at least once a week but I make no gaurentees. Thanks for reading ********!**


	2. And Then My World Came Crumbling Down

**A/N: Okay, so I know I said that tdi would start in chap 3, but chap 2 got **_**way**_** to long so I had to split it up. Also, I think I want to show how Duncan gets on the island too! That way I can set the story up so I can tell it from multiple pov's. Also, I do make fun of a certain super star in this chapter, so if you like the person I'm sorry. It's not that I hate the person, but they were just such an easy target!**

**Anyways, here's the chap, Enjoy!**

And Then My World Came Crumbling Down

Courtney's POV

As I stepped out of the limo, flashbulbs went off like crazy. All around me cameramen and reporters yelled:

"Courtney, look over here!"

"So how does it feel finally being at your long-awaited sweet sixteen, Courtney?"

"Smile Courtney, this is going to be next week's cover shot!"

I took my time walking down the carpet, making sure to stop and smile to let the cameras get some good shots. A few feet into it, I spotted a little girl wearing a t-shirt with my face on it, as my character (Jesse Morgan) from the Disney Channel show I used to act in. I slowly walked over to her and got down on my knees so we were the same height.

"Hi! What's your name?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could muster.

"A-A-Ali" the girl squeaked shyly.

"Would you like me to sign that pretty shirt of yours, Ali?"

"Y-Yes!" Ali's eyes lit up as she smiled bigger then I would have thought possible for a girl her size. I couldn't help but give grin just as big right back. A girl next to her that looked so similar to her could only be her older sister handed me a pink sharpie for me to sign it with.

"Thank you, this means the word to her. She just loves your show." She told me.

"It's my pleasure" I smiled warmly back at her. It was times like these when I just loved being famous.

After signing autographs for a few more of my fans and posing for more pictures, I finally made it to the end of the carpet. I stepped up to the door and pulled it open just enough to slip in without anyone following.

Even though I had spent the last two months planning for this, I couldn't help but be awestruck. The Ballroom was decorated beautifully with draping fabrics and timelessly elegant decorations, giving off a stunning and delicate look. However, the party was anything but. I could practically feel a wild and carefree vibe enveloping all of the party guests. The Jonas Brothers were blasting their latest single, "Live to Party" as loud as the speakers would go and people were out on the dance floor, swinging their hips like there was no-

And oh my God, did they put my ice sculpture on the back table?! I specifically told them to put it on the center table!

Before I could even take another step into the room I herd someone shouting my name over to the right of the room.

"Courtney, over here!" exclaimed Miley, rushing towards me as fast as she could go in those way-too-tall golden pumps of hers. Plastered on her face was one of the fakest smiles I have ever seen.

Okay, as I'm sure you can tell I've never really like Miley for some reason, although she's always seemed to like me. That is, at least when the press or some of her peers are around to see her. But, regardless, I still always tried to be nice to her.

Besides, it's not like I'm going to just bash her in public; that would just be plain mean. Being a bad girl and making a scene is never how I've wanted to get my publicity. That's why I was pegged as "America's Sweetheart" in the first place.

"Hi, Miley." I faked smiled right back, trying to look genuinely pleased to see her. She bought it.

"Oh my god, this is such an awesome party! Its almost better then the one I had in Disneyland!" Ok, was it just me, or did she complement and insult my party all at the same time?

"Thanks Miley, I really appreciate it" I replied, my lips tightening as I tried to continue to keep my smile in place.

"Did you really plan this whole thing yourself? Its ok, I won't tell anyone, I know how hard it is. I mean, I would have just _died_ without my party planner!" Ok, screw the goody-goody thing, this means _war_.

"Well it really isn't that hard as long as you are actually willing to put some effort into it. Plus, this way I can make sure it's really original, REALLY one in a million" Ha, Miley, take that! It took all of my self control not to break out into a victory dance right then and there. Although on the outside I appeared to remain perfectly calm and collected. For a second I saw just a flicker of irritation in her eyes before that its-so-happy-its-scary look came back on to her face.

"Really? Well I-"she broke off and looked at something just passed my shoulder. "Sorry but I have to go; my boyfriend just got here". Boyfriend?!?!?! I don't remember inviting that idiot and underwear model here!

"Bye" I said, with a smug little grin, knowing I had won this round, but she was already to far away to hear me.

Now if I could just find get some one who could move that ice sculpture…

But before I could find an employee to snip at, another person came rushing up to me.

"Hey Courtney!" Demi said. Unlike Miley, Demi was one of the genuinely nice stars, so it was hard not to like her. Last year when I had guest stared on her show, _Sonny with a Chance_, we had gotten pretty close.

"Hi Demi, how's the show going?" I asked, even though I already knew. With a show as good as hers, it _had_ to be getting great reviews.

"Actually, I've been wanting to talk so you about that," she told me, the corners of her mouth slowly pulling up into a smile. "We just aired the episode that you appeared in and the ratings for it were off the charts! They're thinking about making you a reoccurring character!" she exclaimed.

"Really? I would love that" I cried. Although Disney Channel was beneath me- considering all of my parts in Oscar winning movies and things- being on that show was just so much fun! The cast was like one big family. They were always laughing and playing pranks on each other, in fact, it was a miracle they ever got things done.

"Yeah, then we could finally get back on Brandon and Doug for that prank they pulled on us," Demi said, a wicked looking smile playing at the edge of her lips. "Hey remember that time when we pulled that prank on Eric with the turtle wax?" Both of us burst out laughing like lunatics. And it was that moment that Selena decided to come up to us.

"Hey guys…." She started, then saw how hard we were laughing, and gave us a funny look. "What's so funny?" she asked, her voice sounding cautious, as if she were talking to two crazy people.

"we did-ahaahaha- the prank-hahahaaha-turtlewax!" the two of us tried to choke out a response in between our laughs, but it wasn't working out so well.

"Okay then…"she replied, still looking at us a little odd.

After a minute or so we finally stopped laughing enough to form an intelligible response.

"Hey Selena," I said, still giggling a bit. "So, are you having fun so far?" Her eyes lit up in such a way that I could tell she was having the time of her life.

"Yes! It's so amazing! The decorations are stunning, the music is even better, and oh my God, Demi did you see the CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN?!?!" The whole thing came out in one big, jumbled rush, like she just couldn't get her lips to move fast enough.

"Yeah, I almost poured half of it into my purse!" Demi replied.

"I actually did that once when I was six," I giggled, recalling the memory.

"Really?" Selena asked, eyes going wide with shock,

"Yeah, it was a cast premier party for one of the first movies I had ever gotten a role in, and it just looked so good! I just couldn't get enough, so I poured some into my miniature purse to save for later." They both just looked at me before we all burst out laughing again, and were verging on hysterics. This time the people around us paused what they were doing to stare at us like we were just a bit ill in the head.

"I've always had a thing for anything chocolate," I explained, as soon as I could talk again. "And anything dipped in chocolate too. Especially strawberries."

"There are chocolate covered strawberries?" Demi asked, her face lighting up. Her gaze went to the giant plate that used to hold chocolate covered strawberries, and when she didn't see any, she almost started hyperventilating.

"Not anymore" replied Selena, licking her lips. And that set of our lunatic-laughing again.

"Oh, its on" said Demi, playfully swatting her pal.

"Okay, all this talk of chocolate is making me hungry, I think I'm going to head back over to the food table now," Selena said, still flushed from laughing so hard.

"Yeah, me too. See you later, Courtney." Said Demi, as she tuned around and walked with Selena.

And that's was just how the rest of my night went; people rushing up to me, having a quick conversation, and then went back to whatever they were doing before they saw me. At first, all the attention was fun, just like any other day in my life. But after awhile, it just starred to get on my nerves. I just wanted to have a conversation that lasted more then 90 seconds. Then it occurred to me that I hadn't seen Jen all night.

As I thought that, I finally spotted her in the crowd and went rushing over to her.

"Jen," I called. It wasn't until I got a few feet away from her that I noticed she was with some one. And by the way they were looking at each other, I was pretty sure he was the reason I hadn't seen her all night."Jen!" I called again, once I was closer to her.

"Oh," she said, finally pulling her gaze away from the boy, "Hey Courtney." She blushed furiously. Yeah, he was defiantly the reason.

"Um… well…." Jen stuttered, trying to find the right words to say. "Jasper this is Courtney, Courtney, this is Jasper" she gestured to the two of us as she spoke. I had to admit, Jen had done pretty well. Jasper was tall, with light blond hair and was absolutely gorgeous. And I got a calming sense from his somehow, like just being near him made me more relaxed.

"Hi Jasper" I smiled at him extending my hand, which he took.

_When did I invite this hunk?_ I thought to myself

"Hello Courtney" he replied, giving me a small smile in return, releasing my hand.

"Jasper was just telling me about his hometown in Texas" Jen said, giving me a look that said "I really like him can you please give us some time alone".

"Well, then ill just let you two get back to that then" I said, even though I really wanted someone to talk to. But it was okay, Jen was so shy I was just happy she was finally talking to a guy.

"See you later" Jen said, giving me a grateful look that was clearly meant as a thank you. I walked away and looked around for someone else to talk to, but couldn't find anyone that wasn't already busy with something else. I couldn't believe it, I was lonely at my own party! And I had hand picked the 500 people to invite!

It was then that I noticed a group of guys at the back of the room carrying some large metal cylinder. As they got closer I was able to distinguish was it was.

_A keg. A KEG! They were trying to sneak BEER into MY_ _party! _I pushed my way through all the dancing bodies and stalked right up to them.

"WHAT do you think you're DOING?!?!?!" I shrieked at them in a somewhat –hushed tone, trying to avoid attracting attention. Who did they think they were, trying to sneak beer into the party of America's Sweetheart?

"Whoa, chill, it's just a little beer" said one of the idiots, trying to get me to calm me down. Yeah right, like that was going to happen.

"_Just a _BEER!" I yelled this time, too pissed to still remember to keep quiet. "Do you have ANY idea what this would do to _my_ reputation if this got in the PAPERS?!"

"Looks like somebody's got a stick up their you-know-where" replied a different idiot, who was still failing to get my point.

"Hey, lighten up; the press is already gone anyway. Sit back, chillax, and have a cup." said the guy who first talked to me, holding out a cup of beer for me to take. "No wa-" I started but then stopped to think about it. I already had nothing else to do, and loosening up might help me really have some fun. After all, one beer couldn't hurt, right?

_This is the best party ever!_

An hour later I was out on the dance floor having the time of my life. I was dancing with anyone and everyone. In fact, I had already forgotten the name of who I was with. I have had.. wait, how many beers was it again? Oh well, its not like anyone was going to bust me anyways, they were all drinking too.

"Hey, want another beer dude?" some guy asked me holding out another cup.

"Heehee! You know what's a funny word? Dude! Doooooode. Dewwwd." I said, giggling a bit too much.

"Whoa, I think maybe you've had enough." he told me but I attempted to grab the beer anyway, and he didn't stop me this time, although it took a couple of tries to get my hand around it.

I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that was telling me that something was wrong, but I jus ignored it. Everything was just-

The music suddenly stopped, and all the normal lights were switched back on. There were numerous complaints that arose from the crowd, clearly ticked that some one had interrupted their partying. Then, a man walked on stage and took the mike.

"That's it, parties over kids."

Oh. My. God. It was my dad.

I hadn't seen my father in over six months, ever since he had left for that business trip to Japan. I never saw either of my parents much, with how busy their jobs kept them, so I was really shocked that he was here now.

"Hi, Daddy! You look soo handsome! Who's a handsome little boy? Oh yes you are!" I started cooing. Everyone started moving towards the doors, so I followed, not really paying attention to where I was heading.. I was almost to the door when a hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder, restraining me from moving forward.

"Not without me you don't" said my mother, her voice cold and emotionless. I moaned, knowing that this was going to end badly.

* * *

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" my father boomed. We were sitting in the living room of out LA mansion. The car ride home was dead silent, my parents not wanting the driver to hear their outburst. But as soon as we got in the door, my father hadn't wasted a second delaying the scolding that I had known was undoubtedly coming.

"Whoa, far out, dude. Everything's like…spinny! WHOOO!!!"

"COURTNRY!" my father yelled at me again, so I tried my best to focus a bit

"It's not like I was the one to bring the beer" I whined, not really putting any effort into defending myself, knowing it was useless when I was as wasted as I was.

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!" my father continued to rant, his face beet red. "I'm SURE there was SOMEONE you could have told that would have disposed of the beer."

"Nor did you have to drink any of it yourself." Hissed my mother. Well that was a bit ironic, considering my dad actually had a drinking problem.

"This is inexcusable behavior, Courtney. I have no choice but to cut you off." Now that really got me irritated.

"WHAT!" I yelled, my rage sobering me up enough that I was able to stop slurring my words. "That's _my_ money! I worked hard to get it." I yelled, stomping my foot. This whole being drunk thing really wasn't helping me defend my point. This was ridiculous; they couldn't take away my hard earned cash.

"It doesn't matter. You need to be taught a lesson about what it means to be a role model to so many people" my mother retorted.

"Well that isn't going so well as you as my role model, is it?!"

"What did you just say young lady?" my mother snipped back at me. But I just ignored her, already on a role.

"The one time I go and do something wrong you go and CUT ME OFF?! I'm always carful of what I do and say and I've never done anything wrong before. Not that you would know, considering you're always GONE!" I screeched. How could they know what I needed when they were never around to see what I was like? They had no right to be telling me what I could and couldn't have when they knew so little about me.

"Now you hold on just a-" but I didn't stick around to hear the rest of what he said. I flew up the stairs and into my room, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me. The tears were almost instantaneous. I didn't understand what my tears were for. I never cared that my parents weren't a part of my life, I'd just accepted that it was just the way it was. But maybe I had been lying to myself after all. I leaned back against the door and slid down until I was sitting on the floor, lost in thought. I didn't know how long I stayed like that, until I finally walked over to my bed and cried myself to sleep.

**A/N: Okay, so that's it! Please review and tell me what you think, and if you think I should do the Duncan thing. I'll have chapter 3 up sometime before Sunday night, because it's already finished, I just have to post it. Thanks for reading! ;-D**


	3. Plan B

**A/N: OMG! I just fount out that none of the page breaks I have in word uploaded to my story chapters! Sorry if that made the chapters confusing, but I have now gone back and edited them in. **

**I just wanna make a shout out to one of my best friends Joy, who had been kindly editing my story, and if it weren't for her they would be terrible dull and full of grammar mistakes ( I suck at spelling). So, I have put her as a character in this chapter! **

**Anyways, hope you like it!**

* * *

Plan B

"Wake up, sleepy head" Jen said in a chipper voice. I peaked my head out from under the covers only to be met by the sun steaming through the windows. The light hurt my eyes so I groaned and buried myself deeper into the covers. Judging by how light it was outside, I would say it was early in the afternoon. I always tended to sleep in late on the weekends, it was a bad habit that I should really attempt to try and break one day.

"Oh, no you don't," she told me, wrestling to get the covers off me. She managed to finally pull them down just enough to see my face, and cringed. I couldn't blame her. I was sure I looked terrible. I could feel the frizzy pieces of my hopelessly tangled hair on my neck, and probably had mascara running down my face from crying last night.

"You okay?" she asked timidly, sounding honestly concerned.

"Well…" I started, not knowing exactly where to begin. The fact that my head was pounding from a major hangover didn't help me organize my thoughts, either. "They cut me off! I did just _one_ thing wrong and they cut me off. I'm never like that, not that they would know." I told her, deciding to leave out the part about how I cried for hours last night, because I still wasn't exactly sure what I was crying about. It couldn't have been that I wanted my parents around, since I really didn't care. It probably just came as a big shock that they had cut me off when I didn't deserve it. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Well, we'll just have to come up with a plan to get back at them then. Like a way to make a lot of fast cash. Coffee?" She held out one of two Starbucks cups that she had been carrying.

"Extra hot soy sugar free vanilla double shot extra foam latte?" I asked. What? I was picky, so sue me.

"Yes I actually manage to get your ridiculously long order right this time," she teased, as I took the cup from her.

"What? The reason you pay four dollars a cup is so they make it perfect." I replied, defending myself.

"Well, you always have been a hard girl to please," she said playfully, rolling her eyes at me."Now come on, let's go make some brownies."

My mom didn't allow any sugar or flour in the house, but Maria, our personal chief, always kept a stash of chocolate somewhere in the kitchen. She really didn't need to hide them though, I doubt my mother had ever seen the kitchen, because God knows she's never even worked a stove in this lifetime.

"Maria" I called out, once we were downstairs, getting no response. "She must be out getting more groceries," I told Jen, starting to look around and find where she had hidden the stash this time.

"Found it!" Jen called to me, pulling out a box of brownie mix from the top shelf of the cooling racks. She placed the box on the counter and started looking for the necessary supplies to make them.

"Mmmmm. Godiva triple chocolate, my favorite," I said. I didn't get to have any of the chocolate fountain last night, so I was dying for some good dark chocolate.

"Jen pulled out a bowl while I got all of the ingredients out of the fridge and pantry. We poured everything into the bowl and followed the instructions exactly. Except, of course, using Egger-G, an egg supplement, since Jen was a vegan.

"So, what's going on with you and this mysterious Jasper?" I asked Jen, curious about who this guy was. After all, some one as good as Jen deserved the best.

"Oh… um, nothing," Jen said, her cheeks turning a crimson red.

"If that was true your cheeks wouldn't be bright red right now." I replied, giving her a little smirk.

"He's just so….perfect" she exclaimed, beaming with a smile ear to ear. "He's sweet, charming, the perfect gentleman, and I think he really likes me. And he just makes me feel so relaxed, as soon as I see him all of my worries just kind of… disappear." Well, then I guess I wasn't the only one that got that feeling form him. Huh.

"Yeah" I sighed, longing to have some one that mad me feel like that too. I mean, it wasn't like I was never asked on dates, because I was, to many in fact. Its just that they only asked me out because of my fame, or because of what they thought they knew about me from the papers. Not one of them just like me for, well, me. But that was just the price of fame.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure you'll find someone to" Jen said. "You just need to loosen up a bit"

"And what exactly, do you mean by that?" I asked, feeling a bit of anger starting to bubble up. Crap. She was right.

" Well… you know, just have a little bit more fun, instead of being so serious about everything" said Jen cautiously, not wanting to anger me.

"You mean like this" I replied, picking up some rice flour and flicking it in her face. I smirked at her and we both started to laugh. It felt good after feeling so down last night.

We finished mixing the brownies and put them in the oven, setting the timer for 20 minutes. I grabbed my laptop so we could check out the latest gossip on my party, and then we headed into the media room to watch some TV. After flipping through the channels we settled on a rerun of last night's American Idol.

"You know, your going to find out what the gossip is on your party sooner or later. Might as well get it over with now." Jen advised. I knew she was right, but I just didn't want to have to deal with that right now.

"I know, I just…" I trailed off as I herd an announcement on the TV, and both of us turned our heads to watch.

A man came on the screen with black hair that had _way_ to much hair gel, but that wasn't what caught out attention.

"Have you ever wanted to be famous? And better yet, get paid like a star for it" the to-much-hair gel- guy said. "I'm Chris MacLean, and I'm the host of a new reality show called Total Drama Island. Players will be divided into 2 teams and compete for…." Chris paused for dramatic effect, smirking at the camera, " 10,000 dollars! You'll be staying at a luxury resort while competing in challenges each week. Your objective is simple: just don't get voted off. If you want to be on the show, just fill out an application from our website, , and send in an audition tape, telling us why you'd be perfect for the show. Entries are due in less then a week, so hurry up and send them in. What have you got to loose," he smiled at the camera in a way that suggested there was something he wasn't telling us, but I was too deep in thought to notice. Then it ended.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked Jen, turning around to face her again.

"Go for it" she replied, so I whipped my laptop open and typed in the address given on the commercial. The website gave a little bit more detail about what the show was, like that the contestants were split into 2 teams and the loosing team was the one to vote members off each week.

The whole idea was perfect. I could win this game easily just by acting through the whole thing. Plus, it was the kind of thing my parents hated. They always looked down on reality TV stars, claiming they just wanted short-lived fame and fast cash.

"Well, I guess this we finally have a plan to get back at your parents." Jen said,.

"Yes, I think we do." I replied, vengefully, a wicked smile coming on my face.

"Well then, now that you've got that settled, I'm going to go make some tea, want any?" Jen asked, getting up to go walk into the kitchen.

"No thanks" I replied, I was to busy planning my strategy for the show already.

I clicked on the application form that was required for you to send in with you video and started to fill in my name, but stopped. Did I really want to go as Courtney Addison? Yes, I could use my fame to my advantage, but people could also hate me for it. Not to mention vote me off right away thinking I didn't really need the money. Which I guess I really didn't need, since I was so rich, but what else was I supposed to do since my parents cut me off? It wasn't like I really had say in how my money used now anyways.

And so, instead of typing in Addison I put in Mahn.

As I started to fill out the rest of the application- with completely random information I'd have to memorize later- when I herd a familiar voice coming from the TV.

"Jen, get back in here!" I yelled, turning up the volume on the television.

"Okay, Courtney," said Jen, walking back into the room. "What did you…" she trailed off staring at the picture on the screen.

Miley Cyrus was on singing her song "The Climb", and not very well, without her voice having been touched up on the computer like they did when she recorded in the studio. But that's not what was so surprising. She was moving her arms around in a awkward way that looked like she was trying to do the backstroke. Then she started banging her head, like she was dancing to some hard core rock song. Her hair flew out of her bun and into her face. Compared to the beauty of the song- at leadst the beauty it would have had if it was sung by some one who actually had a voice- was ridiculous. Both of us started laughing so hard we couldn't breathe, and Jen had to grab onto the couch for support, so she wouldn't fall over. But then I stopped mid laugh, smelling something that just wasn't right.

"Hey do you smell something burning?" I asked, defiantly sniffing smoke in the air. I didn't know what it could be, since the brownie timer still had 2 more minutes on it,

"Oh NO, I left the tea on the stove!" she cried, and we both ran into the kitchen, the smoke smell growing stronger. As soon as we got to the door I could see the curtains blazing, the fire already too big just to be put out by dousing with water.

"We have to do something!" I yelled, my mind desperately searching for a way to put the fire out, but drawing a blank.

The two of us ran around like idiots, waving pots and pans at the fire, trying to blow it out. After about 30 seconds I finally remembered that we kept a fire extinguisher in the pantry for emergencies like this one. I sprayed the fire until it was out and the curtains were thoroughly doused with foam.

"We probably should have done that first." Jen said, looking embarrassed.

"Oh NO! What have you done to the curtains?" Maria cried, walking into the kitchen with bags full of groceries.

"Sorry, Maria" we said in unison, looking like two little kids who had gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Maria looked at us both and signed.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to tell Clara to order some new ones" she replied.

We decided to take the brownies out of the oven now, not wanting to have them end up burning the house down. Eager to eat them, we took no time waiting for them to cool. We cut them up as best we could, put them on a plate, and headed back into the media room.

"Courtney Mahn?" Jen questioned around a mouth full of brownie, looking at the computer screen. I explained my theory about how my fame would hurt my chances of winning more then it would help, and she nodded her head in agreement.

"Okay, I can see you point. But really, did you need to put _synchronized swimming,_ down under hobbies" she asked, stifling a laugh.

"Oh, haha. If your so brilliant what do _you_ suppose we fill in?" I asked, slightly pissed.

"Well, reality shows like this always try and pick a diverse range of people, so everyone has someone to root for. So if you want to get on, out best chance will be to make Courtney Mahn someone who is not likely to apply to the show." Jen explained.

"That would definitely be the super-serious, valedictorian type of girl." I said. People like that were just so full of themselves, they thought reality shows were below them. Just look at my parents.

"Okay, that'll work. Another thing that reality shows look for in contestants is how much drama their going to bring to the show; especially one that has the work right in their name." she advised

"Then lets make her determined, like most valedictorians are, and short-tempered too." I exclaimed, smiling. I was going to have _so _much fun with this role.

"Good idea! The closer she is to your personality the less likely you are to act out of character on the island," said Jen, whipping the smile of my face.

"What are you talking about?!" I yelled, getting angrier the more I talked. "Are you saying I'm short-tempered?" okay, so maybe I did get a just a bit carried away at times, but that was hardly enough to call me short-tempered.

"Oh, um…" Jen stumbled, a bit flustered, quickly changing the subject. "So anyways, how are we going to portray all this about her in the audition tape?"

Thinking about this calmed me down a bit. The room was silent-except for sound of us chewing our brownies, god those things were _good_- as we thought about what her audition tape should be.

"I've got it!" Jen exclaimed, beaming with pride over what I assumed was a brilliant idea. "we have her 'accidentally' say her speech for class president, that way they know she's determined but not so perfect that she never screws up"

"Great! And we can have her get mad at the camera man when he won't re-film it for her!" I added, excited this was all coming together so well.

"Perfect" she said, and we high-fived. Cheezy,I know, put it totally fit the mood.

"I guess there's just one thing left to do"

* * *

"You want me to do WHAT?" Evan cried, obviously not wanting to go through with it, just like I had predicted.

""Oh, come one, it's just a little hair" I begged, needing him to cut it. "It'll grow back eventually."

"Exactly!" Jen chimed in, further defending my point. "Just think of it as a challenge for when she gets back off the island. Besides, it's our only option. Her hair is to recognizable, and something _always_ goes wring with wigs!" Every movie I had ever had to wear a wig for, something always happened to it. And that was just a few hours of shooting, who knows what would happen for an entire month. However, we had gotten a wig that looked like the hair I currently had, that way no one would see my new look and bust me before I got to the island.

"Fine, I'll do it, but only because you're my favorite customer," he sighed. He went into the back room to get the hair color. He mixed it and then started applying it to my hair. After letting it sit for awhile, he washed it our in the sinks. And that's when the hair started to fall.

"I can't watch this!" I cried, closing my eyes. He was just cutting so much! And the color was so odd, it made me miss my blond already. But it was to late now, and after all, this is what I had asked him for. After he finished blow-drying and styling my hair, I had no choice but to look.

"You can open your eyes now, Courtney." Evan said, but I was still just to nervous.

"Come on, Court. It's not that bad!" Jen said, reassuringly. "It's actually really cute."

"Oh, okay," I said, finally opening my eyes to look in the mirror.

It was… really cute! True, it wasn't the wow-worthy movie star style I had before, but it still looked really good, in an average sort of way. I had shoulder length auburn hair with short side bangs. I had subtle highlights and it was cut in such a way that it curled in just slightly around he edges, framing my face perfectly. Leave it to Evan to make even average look incredible. "I like it!"

"It really does make you look different. Who knew a hairstyle could do that." Jen said, staring at my hair in the mirror in aw. I could see where she was coming from, because it really did change how I looked dramatically. The cut was defiantly going to take some getting used to, because it was still hard to believe it was me staring back at myself in the mirror.

"Yes, well, as good as it is it won't be enough," Evan told us. "I would go down to Sephora and have them give you a different look. Maybe tone it down a little, and tell them to use some different colors. "

"Okay, I'll be sure to go and do that. Thanks Evan," I said, getting up to hug hi,

"It's my pleasure" he replied, hugging me back.

"So, ready to go try out your new look?" Jen asked, eager to see if this was really going to work.

"Let's do it."

* * *

"Deep breaths, Courtney, deep breaths" I said to myself. I was standing outside of Sparkle, ready to try out my new look. I had made quite an impression here the other day, so if they didn't remember me here, I'd know for sure the now one would recognize me.

Jen and I had stopped at Sophora, like Evan had recommended, and had one of the employee's give me a more natural look. We had also been shopping on Rhode o Drive for some close the better fit Courtney Mahn's straight A student personality. The only thing left to do is find out if it actually fooled people.

I walked into the store, trying to find the employee that had helped me yesterday. If anyone in this store was going to remember my face it was defiantly her. After the way I snipped at her how could she not?

I wandered over near the dressing rooms, trying to find her, when a short Asian girl popped out of the dressing room , dress in a short pink dress that poofed out around the skirt.

"Does this look good on me?" the girl asked me, a bit loudly, not embarrassed at all to be judged by a complete stranger. The dress was okay, but the skirt poofed out at just the wrong place, making her hips look _way_ bigger then they actually were.

"Well… think you should try on another one," I said sincerely, hoping I hadn't offended her. But she looked just as happy as ever, the comment not having affected her at all.

"Yeah, I think your right," she agreed. "I'm trying to find a dress sort of like the one Courtney Addison wore to her party yesterday, but everything I try on has something wrong with it!" I froze in shock, convinced she was going to recognize me at any moment.

_Why did I ever do this??? I should have known this would never work!_

"Actually, this is the store she bought her dress from ," Oh. My God. It was the saleswoman that had helped me yesterday.

And that's when I stopped breathing.

"REALLY?!!? OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO GET ME ONE!!!!! OH MY GOD!" the girl screeched, turning to me. "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! OH MY GOD!!!" This was it, any moment now one of them was going to figure out it was me.

"O-okay" she stuttered, shocked by the girls outburst. "Would you like me to see if we have another one for you too?" she asked me but I was to stunned to respond. I couldn't believe it; they really didn't recognize me. This was actually going to work!

"Um... miss?" the saleswoman asked again, giving me a funny look.

"Oh, no thank you." I replied, pulling my thoughts back to the store.

"Can you _believe_ that this is actually the store that Courtney ADDISON was shopping at?! Oh my god this is so COOL!" she exclaimed, in a very animated voice. Wow this girl was really loud. "OH! My name is Joy."

"Courtney Mahn," I said, smiling and extending my hand, but just as I did the woman came back with the dress, and she ran right past me.

"Oh my GOD! That is ADORABLE!! I LOVE it!" she ran right past us and slammed the door to the dressing room, leaving a rather confused looking saleswoman in hallway. I just looked at her and shrugged. That was obviously just Joy.

When she came out of the dressing room she was still smiling. I had to admit, the dress looked great on her. However, her legs were quite a bit shorter then mine, which made the dress hit her just below the knee, and it looked a bit awkward. But there was no way I could tell her that.

"It's GORGOUS! So whaddya THINK?!" she cried, beaming.

"It really is, but do you really want to wear a dress that's already been seen by every girl in the country?" I asked. "What do you need it for anyways?"

"Well, my boyfriend, Sterling Knight, is taking me the premier of 17 Again. It's going to be soooooo much fun! We get to walk down the red carpet and everything!" she told me.

"Okay, so if your going to be on the red carpet, you going to need something flashy, that will stand out from the crowd…" I explained. We spent the next hour looking for dresses, well, except for all the laughing we did. Even though this store had some _amazing_ dresses, it also had some pretty outrageous ones too. Plus we just, talked. I felt nice to have some one besides Jen that didn't act star struck, or pretending to like me just to get in the papers, like _some_ people did, _cough- _Miley Cyrus- _cough_.

"I love it!" Joy cried. We had finally found the perfect dress. It was (insert dress description here)

"Hey, what's your number?" she asked, pulling a cell from her purse.

"Oh, um…" Crap. I couldn't just giver her my number! What if it went to voicemail, then she'd find out who I was! But not giving her anything would be rude. "My aim is superstar23." I said, hoping she didn't mind.

"Okay got it" she replied, seeming to not even notice that I didn't give her what she asked for.

"Well I've go to go, see you around," I had completely forgotten that Jen was waiting outside in the car, and she had been waiting for over an hour!

"Yeah, defiantly," she replied. Then I headed out of the store to go tell Jen the good news.

* * *

"Courtney, there's a letter her for you!" called Clara, our housekeeper. I jumped off the couch, snatched the letter from her, glanced at the return address, and then ripped it open.

Jen and I had been camped out in the media room for the past 3 days waiting for a response from Total Drama Island, to see if I had gotten on the show. We had gotten the audition tape fimed-and it was perfect if is do say so myself- and mailed it in with the application form, just like the website had said.

I scanned over the letter, and was so shocked I almost forgot to breath.

"So, what does it say?" Jen asked eagerly.

"I, I didn't get in" I said, the in complete and utter shock.

"Oh, Courtney I-"

"How could the not pick me!? She was _perfect_! Everything about freaking dramatic! She would has been the popular person on the show. Those crazy, stupid, SONS OF B-" But my ranting was cut short when the phone started ringing.

"Hello," Jen answer, I was still to mad to answer it myself, I'd probably start yelling at hem for no good reason. As Jen listened to the person on the other end of the line, her face suddenly lit up. Then, she held out the phone to me, "It's for you," she said, trying to hide her smile.

"Hello" I said, a bit cold, still fuming form the rejection letter.

"Hi, Courtney Mahn? This is Chris Mclean from Total Drama Island" he said. Oh did I have a lot to say to him.

"YOU! How could you reject ME! I was ABSOLUTLY PERFECT for the show. You stupid little-" but Chris cut me off.

"Whoa, whoa, just calm down, that's actually what I'm calling you about. Unless you would rather have me call someone else…" he trailed off, and I could hear the smile in his voice. Creep.

"No, NO! Just tell me already!" I snipped, getting even more irritated with him, if that was even possible.

"Well, you see, it turns out one of our original contestants was kind of a alcohol addict, and her parents found out about it last night, "he said, snickering. "So, now she's been admitted to rehab, and isn't going to be able to make the show. Since you were our next top pick, we were wondering if you'd like to take her place."

"Yes, of course," I cried. Yes! I was going to be on the show! This was actually happening!

"Okay, Courtney, pack your bags, because, tomorrow, we're going to make you famous."

* * *

**A/N: So, this chapter was a littlel onger then I though it would be, but I hope to make my future chapters this long. The Duncan one is rly short but since its already written ill post it anyways. Please review! I love reading then, it makes me feel all happy inside ********!**


	4. Jail Break

**A/N: okay, I am so sorry for not updating, I just haven't had time! This chapter has been done for over a week now, and I'm just going to warn u it's kind of short, but the next one's a lot longer.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Jail Break

Duncan POV

"Come on, pick up the pace, guys," I whispered, harshly, trying no to alert the guards. "And Eric, if you drop that wrench again I swear to God you won't wake up tomorrow." This was our third attempt at trying to escape from juvi, and it seemed like it was actually going to work, as long as the two idiots behind me didn't do anything to screw it up. In fact, every plan I had probably would have worked, if the guys I was tying to escape with didn't have a combined IQ of about… 2. But I needed someone to help me escape, because it was impossible to do alone, although I probably had a better chance of breaking free by myself then with these two.

Our last escape attempt was perfect; we were so close to breaking out we could taste the freedom. But then Eric had to go and ruin it my dropping that damn wrench on one of the motion detectors, setting off the alarm. He always carried that thing around claiming that one day it would 'come in handy', but that day still hadn't come, and never would.

"Whatever" he replied, still pissed that I was leading this little escapade again. But it was _my_ plan, yet again, considering all of their plans involved some whacked out inventions that most of the time didn't exist.

We walled outside, into a type of courtyard surrounded by walls of the jail building on all sides, so there was no where for us to get out during the hours we were allowed outside. This was the safest way to get to the exit, because there were no guards around to watch it, and the guard dogs usually went to sleep at this time of night. And they wouldn't wake up unless you made some kind of really loud noise, like say, tripping and then knocking over one of the outside tables. Which is exactly what Max did next. _Dumbass _

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" he yelled at the table, oblivious to the fact that he had just ruined our escape, until we all heard the dogs barking at the other end of lawn.

"Run!" I yelled, sprinting as fast as I could to the door that would put us closest to the exit. Once I got there I reached out for the door handle and tried to turn it, only to find that it was locked. Just great.

Then, Eric came running up behind me, took out his wrench, and slammed it into the door handle. It fell off and the door swung open only to reveal two guards on the other side, looking straight at us.

_The one time that damn wrench is finally useful and it just gets us caught even quicker,_ I thought, silently cursing Max for knocking the table over. Then I looked up and met the eyes of the two guards.

"Hello boys, so how much trouble are we in this time?"

* * *

Along with getting another year added to my sentence, we also had lunch duty for the next month, which meant we had to pass out food. Lunch duty wasn't actually assigned as further punishment by the judge, but the prison guard just _love _to make our lives more miserable, so in turn, we did just as much to make try and make their jobs living hell. Assholes.

The food they served here wasn't that bad, although it definitely didn't taste great either. Actually, it looked like the same food they served back at my high school, and I'm pretty sure it was. Not that we really paid much attention to what we were eating, because lunch was the one time we got some sort of contact with the outside world, TV. We only got an hour every day, but it was better then nothing.

There were 2 televisions in the lunchroom, and both were old and got crappy reception, but you got used to it after a while. Both of them were far away from where we had to serve the food, but one was close enough that I could just barley make out the audio.

"So what's our next escape plan gonna be?" asked Max, looking at me expectantly.

"I've got it!" Eric cried, "How 'bout we hijack some hover boards and hen next time we go outside we can just fly right over the fences!"

"Yeah, that's brilliant," said Max, and then the two of them high fived. Idiots.

"Except for the fact that hover boards don't actually exist, and even if it did it's not like we can just go steal some, since we're in PRISON!" I yelled at them, still pissed about how they had screwed up our escape, _again_.

"Jeez, just chill, man" Max said, knowing that when I got mad it never ended well for them.

"Yeah, besides, I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas," Evan huffed, upset that I had shot down another one of his impossible ideas.

I was just about to yell at them about how it didn't matter that you were coming up with ideas when they required tools that didn't exist, when I heard someone on TV saying something about a 10,000 dollar prize.

A guy was on the screen, and as soon as you looked at him you could tell he was one of those people that looked at themselves _way_ too much in the mirror every morning.

"You'll be staying at a luxury resort while competing in challenges each week. Your objective is simple: just don't get voted off." He said to the camera. I was guessing that he was explaining how to win the 10 grand, but I still wasn't sure since I hadn't seen the beginning of the commercial. "If you want to be on the show, just fill out an application from our website, , and send in an audition tape, telling us why you'd be perfect for the show. Entries are due in less then a week, so hurry up and send them in. What have you got to loose," he smirked at the camera, in a malevolent way. Something told me that this completion wasn't going to be all that great for the campers, not that it mattered, after this place I could handle anything. Maybe, if I got lucky, I could convince someone to let me go on the show. I'd get a chance to win 10 grand, and get out of this place. My best chance was getting in touch with my old parole officer. If I could talk to him, I just might have a decent chance.

"So, do you have a plan or what?" Max asked me impatiently.

"Oh, I've got a plan alright."

* * *

"I don't know Duncan, shows like this are usually to afraid of laws suits to allow a criminal on their show," said Derik, my old parole officer. We were sitting in one of the rooms used for people to visit with prisoners, with a guard standing just outside the doorway. We were talking about weather or not I could get onto Total Drama Island. I saw his point, but I couldn't help but think back at how the show's host had smirked at the camera at the end of the commercial. I highly doubted he was too worried about keeping the contestants safe, compared to getting good ratings. And a jailed teen was sure to boost them.

"Maybe, but it's worth a shot isn't it?" I said, hoping he would at least try.

"Well, I guess we could try, but I wouldn't count on getting in," Dave replied, his forehead creasing in thought.

"Then we'll just have to give them a good reason to," I told him, already thinking of an audition tape that would wow them, and smirking at the thought.

Just then, one of the guards walked into the room, his expression cold and emotionless, just like always. "Someone else is here to see you," he said, his voice matching his expression.

I got up form my chair nodding my head in goodbye to Derik. I followed the guard down the hall to another room, and then I saw them. I turned around, fully intending to walk right back out of the room, only the guard blocked my exit. _Damn_.

One of the downsides to your parents being police officers, was that they could _make_ you talk to them, since the law was on their side. Not that the law had ever stopped me from doing anything before. After all, that was why I was in jail in the first place. But with an armed guard, about two times bigger then me, I knew well enough that putting up a fight was pointless. I had no choice but to turn back around, and sit down at the table. But that didn't mean that I had to talk to them.

"Duncan," my dad sighed, his face filled with disappointment. "You know that the trying to break out will only make it longer until you get out of here."

"Why can't you just _try_ to do the right thing, Duncan?" my mother asked, acting like she sounded sincere. All my life, my parents never really cared about me. They just wanted a perfect son that followed all the rules, and would grow up to be another police officer just like the rest of their family. So, of course, once they started to see that I was more of a rule breaker them a rule follower, they did everything they could to crush that side of me, which only made me want to rebel that much harder. As a result, I spent the majority of my time either grounded or locked up in my room, or at least that's where I was supposed to be. After so many times, sneaking out became second nature to me.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" my father said, getting angry, his face becoming redder every second.

"What's there to say?" I asked, knowing it would only make him madder. It worked. "Oh yeah, my friends are fucking retards?"

"DUNCAN!" he boomed, maybe I'd get lucky and he'd have a heart attack. "You're in JAIL for goodness sake! Don't you think you should at least ATTEMPT to cooperate?!?!"

"Oh, sure! I'll totally try the hover board idea next time! That's so perfect, Dad! Thanks!"

"What is WRONG with you?! You NEVER just obey the laws. How the hell are you ever going to become ANYTHING if you're always in JAIL?!?" my dad yelled, his face bright red now,

"Can't you just follow the rules for once?" asked my mom, an irritated edge in her "sincere" voice. Okay, now I just had to say something.

"What"Huh? Rules? What are you _talking _about?!"I said, keeping my voice as carefree as I could. They weren't worth getting mad over. "I can figure my own life out without your help, thanks."

"Because we're you parents!" my mother said. Parent? Yeah right.

"But if you don't want out advice, them maybe we should just stop trying!" my father continued to yell.

"That's what I've been wanting for the last 10 years."

"Fine then! You're not worth our time anymore! Just FAIL at life, for all we care!" he slammed his fist down on the table. That was it, I was sick of this,

"I think we're done here" I said, my face now looking like one of the prison guard's. I got up out of my chair and left the room, and this time no one stopped me.

* * *

It was late at night, and Derik and I were outside, shooting my audition tape. I getting ready to scale down the side of the prison wall with only a rope, because I figured to was the best way to get the attention of the Total Drama Island crew.

"Okay, and Action!" Derik called, the camera now recording.

"Hey, it's Duncan here," I started out, climbing down the wall. "but then, you probably know me, since I'm somewhat of a local celebrity around these parts. Yeah, photographers are taking my picture around here all the time. It's probably because of my charming good looks, and the fact I live in a big house with tones of security cameras and guard dogs. If I had to pick my best quality, I'd say I'm resourceful. Yeah, I'm pretty quick on my feet." I got to the end of the rope and hopped down to the ground, brushing myself off. Then Derik flipped a switch that set the alarms off, while a guard in the distance rattled the guard dog's cage to get them barking. We had set the whole thing up so it looked like they were recording one of my breakouts. It had taken _forever_ to get it approved by every one of the government officials, but with how good this was all coming together, it was worth it.

I widened my eyes with false surprise, acting like I hadn't expected the alarms. "Well, it's been nice chatting with you, but I really gotta run" I said, waving at the camera and then took off running, until I was out of the shot.

"Got it, oh, wait" he pause looking at the camera, "the red light means its stopped recording, right?" I sighed and shook my head. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

A guard was leading me down the hallway and into another one of the rooms used to visit with prisoners. We finally stopped at one of them, and as I walked through the doorway I could see Derik sitting there with Alec, one the may lawyers that had defended me in court, though the cases were always pointless to argue, having so much evidence against me. Alec was shuffling through some papers, a confused and somewhat worried look on his face.

"So did I get in or what?" I asked. It had been a week since I had mailed in my audition tape, and if there was any chance of me being on the show we would know by now. And since Alec was here, I was pretty sure I already had an answer. And I was surprised by the feeling of happiness that came over me once I figure it out. I guess I was more desperate to get out of this place then I realized.

"Yes, you on the show," Derik said, smiling slightly. I was just about to open my mouth and say something, but he held up a hand to stop me. "But, the contract seems a little odd-"

"It's completely ridiculous!" Alec cut in, his face only getting more confused. "They aren't putting really any restrictions on you at all, except having the ability to kick you off if needed, but game shows have that for almost all players! The whole thing is just full of health wavers, so they don't get blamed for anything that happens to you. It's almost like they _want _you to do something crazy!" Well, I guess my haunch was right then, not that I was surprised. I mean, come on, the show had drama _in its freaking name!_

"Well, I guess I'll just have to give them what they want then." I replied, grinning at the thought. A whole month on an island full of crazy teens, the possibilities were endless. This was going to be one exciting summer.

* * *

**A/N: so, this chapter was totally not necessary, but I didn't want you to wait any longer for an update. Please review! I love to read them, and I know over half of you aren't because I can see when you set my story to alert or favorites!**


	5. Not So Happy Campers Part 1

**A/N: Okay, this is totally the best chapter ever! I love it and I hope all of you do too! My next chapter is going to take a while to post because it's about 150% longer then this one, but hopefully I'll make it good enough that it will be worth the wait. So, here's the chapter! :)**

Not So Happy Campers Part 1

Courtney POV

I was on a boat, headed towards the island that would be my home for the next month, or at least it would be as long as I didn't get voted off. Which I wouldn't.

The fight over to the airport was just _horrible_. Since they I got on the show so late, they booked some cheap red eye flight, and 1am. I didn't get any sleep because the guy next to me kept snoring, and the baby in the row behind me kept crying. I'm not sure, but I think some of that man's drool landed on my new cashmere sweater! I am never flying on a commercial fight again. Thank God for my private jet.

As I got closer to the island, I could start to make out people on the dock. Judging by how many people were already there, I was guessing I was one of the last people to arrive. The boat docked and I plastered one of the biggest smiles on my face I could, and waved to all of the contestants gathered there already. Chris loaned me a hand to help me off the boat

"Thanks," I said to him, after all I had to be polite. I turned to the other contestants, and really got to look at them for the first time.

_Oh my God I have to spend 3 weeks with these freaks?!_ wasthe first though that came into my mind. I mean, get the whole diversity thing but come on, this was ridiculous. Then, I got a look at their faces, and noticed more then half of them looked really pissed. And that's when it hit me. I finally took in my surroundings and noticed that we weren't at a five star resort on some beautiful island, we were in some crappy summer camp out in the middle of nowhere.

_Okay, stay calm, no one likes a pessimist. Positive thoughts, Courtney, we can still win this. Just step up and be a leader. _Whoa, that wasn't like me at all. Usually, I'd be freaking out by now. I guess after practicing being Courtney Mahn so long, her attitude had rubbed off on me.

I only showed a flicker of shock on my face before I quickly replaced it with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Courtney, you must be the other campers. I'm really glad to meet you all" I said in a chipper voice, walking over to the other campers to join them. As I said that, one of the guys in the group smiled at me, in an arrogant kind of way that said 'I am so gonna sleep with you'. Pig. Yet somehow, it still made my heart start to flutter.

_Whoa, hold on, what is that all about? He's a freaking punk! There's no way I'd ever like him. _I had only spent less then a minute on the island and I was already starting to go crazy. But before I got the chance to say any more, a very chubby guy- who looked _way_ too excited, considering where we were and all- blocked my line of sight, and held out his hand for me to shake.

"How's it going," he said, smiling brightly at me, "I'm Owen"

"Nice to meet you Ow….Wow" I turned my head and looked at the guy coming in on the next boat. Now that's what I'm talking about. Unlike the punk, this guy was drop dead gorgeous. I had met a lot of hot stars over the years, but they had nothing on this guy. My mouth was actually hanging open, and you could practically hear the heavenly music in the background as he road in, the wind blowing that _incredible_ brown hair. You could see his chiseled muscles through his tight green shirt and his brown eyes gleamed in the sunlight. This was defiantly the kind of guy that would look good on my arm going down the read carpet. I think I heard a girl behind me actually faint.

"This is Justin, welcome to Total Drama Island" Christ said, tuning to Justin and banging knuckles with him.

"Thanks Chris, this is great," he replied. God even his voice was sexy. I wonder what is would be like to kiss those perfect lips of his…

"Just so you know, we picked you based entirely on your looks" Chris told him.

"I can deal with that," and that's exactly what snapped me out of my future boyfriend fantasies. Hot guys were great, but arrogance was a complete turn off for me. Looking good was one thing, but knowing it and using it to your advantage was another thing entirely. So much for finding a descent boyfriend while I was here.

_Unless I could give that punk guy a makeover… _I thought as I looked over at him again. I took in all of his piercings and dyed hair and shuddered, thinking of the people I knew in Hollywood like that. _On second though, maybe I shouldn't try._

"I like your pants" said Owen, the guy that had come up and talked to me earlier.

"Thanks man," Justin said, continuing to walk down the dock, not even looking at him. Jerk.

"Cuz they look like they're all worn out," Owen started to laugh, but it sounded more like a giggle. The whole conversation was started to get a little weird. "Did you buy them like that?"

"No just had them for awhile." He replied, finally looking at Owen, of course that could have had something to with the death glare I was shooting at him.

"Oh, cool" Owen said, giving him a thumbs up, then turned around and smacked his head, muttering something to himself.

"Hey everyone, Izzy" Chris said, pointing to the boat coming in, with an over excited redhead.

"Hi Chris," she exclaimed animatedly, waving at all of us. "Hi, hi!" she started to run off the boat, before it was at the dock, and jumped off to early. She just missed it and rammed her head into the edge instead.

"Oh, that was bad," said some guy in a red sweat suit, and started laughing. How could he be laughing at her, when she could be seriously injured?!?!

"Guys, she could be seriously hurt," I said, voicing my concerns as I reached over the dock to grab Izzy's hand and helped her up. Once she was up, she stared flinging her head around, shacking off water from it like a dog. I shrank back and covered my face with my hands. It was a little rude but I decided to ignore it, she had hit her head and for all I knew she could have amnesia.

"That felt so… good! Except for hitting my chin. Is this a summer camp? That is so cook! Do you have paper mache here? Are we having lunch soon?" Izzy's words came out in one big, jumbled rush. Hitter her head must have really screwed her up, unless she was really that weird. But with the way she was dressed, I was assuming she was.

"That is a good call!" exclaimed Owen. Of course he would say that, it was obvious by his appearance that he like food a _bit_ too much.

"First things first, we need a group photo for the promo, everyone over to the end of the dock," said Chris, directing us all over to the other side of the dock. I combed through my hair a couple of times, just to make sure I looked okay. As I was doing so, that punk kid walked by me and just laughed, but I just ignored it. It was obvious he know nothing about the importance of keeping up your appearance. With a look like that who did he think he was to judge me?

Chris hopped up on Izzy's boat so he could get a better shot. "Okay, one two three!" he said, taking the picture, but leaving the lens cap on. Just great, our show host was an idiot. This was going to be one long summer. "Opps, okay,forgot the lens cap," he explained.

_Well it took him long enough._ "Okay, hold that pose, one tw- no, wait, cards full, hang on." Oh come on already! How hard was it to take a simple picture! You just have to click a button! Even a retard could do it!

"Come on man, my face is starting to freeze," said someone in the crowd. My thoughts exactly.

"Okay, everyone say Wawanakwa!" Chris said.

"Wawanakwa" we all echoed, as I heard some cracking sound,

_That can't be good. _Just as I was thinking that, the dock cracked underneath us, sending everyone into the water. Just as Chris took the picture. _So much for looking good, _I thought.

"Okay guys, dry off and meet at the camp fire pit in 10" said Chris, not even caring about the fact that we had all just been humiliated on national television.

All of us started swimming to the shore, well, at least most of us were. The red sweat suit guy looked more like he was drowning then swimming. I that shape, I doubt he was going to last more then a few weeks. I a game like this, a guys strength was what kept him around, and compared to all of the buff guys here, he was a toothpick. An uncoordinated toothpick too.

Once we got on shore, we all headed over in the general area that Chris had said the campfire pit was. I saw the green haired punk gut staring at all of the girl's wet t-shirts, a smirk on his face. Pig. I _had_ to figure out a way to get him out of here. This summer camp was already going to be a living hell without him around to making it even worse. I was wringing out my hair and a useless attempt to dry it, when a blond girl in a blue hoodie walked up to me. She was carrying a surf board and didn't look at all bothered by the fact that she was soaked.

"Not a fan of the water?" she asked, smiling warmly at me.

"Of course not! I love the water. Just not the whole, you know, getting wet part," I told her, smiling back, and both of us started laughing.

"I'm Bridgett, by the way."

"Courtney, nice to meet you," I replied. Bridgett was nice, I could tell we were going to get along great. Maybe this camp wouldn't be so bad after all, if everyone was as nice as here, even if they were a bit strange.

The two of us talked for a while, telling each other about ourselves, or at least her telling me thing and me lying about most of mine. I couldn't exactly tell her I was famous right away, although she did seem like the type to keep my secret.

Before we knew it, we were at the campfire and our 10 minutes was up. We all gathered around Chris and then he began to talk to us again,

"This is camp Wawanakwa, your home for the next 8 weeks" Chris began, gesturing to the island around us. "The campers around you will be you cabin mates, your competition, and maybe even your friends, you dig?" I looked at the two boys standing next to me and smiled, still in a positive mood after talking to Bridget. For all I knew, I could become best friends with these people, especially since they didn't have my fame as a motivation to get to know me in the first place. "The camper who manages to stay on Total Drama Island the longest, without getting voted off, will win 100,000 dollars."

"Excuse me," said the green haired guy, stepping forward. "what will the sleeping arrangements be? Because I'd like to request a bunk under her" he pointed to the black haired girl next to him. As I said before, this guy was a total pig. Although I had to admit, with how little clothing she was wearing, the girl was just asking for that one,

"Their not co-ed, are they?" she asked looking repulsed.

"No, girls get one side of the cabin, dudes get the other." Chris answered, and I could see several of the girls faces looking relived. I don't think anyone wanted to share a cabin with _him_.

"Excuse me, Kyle?" asked a blond in a bikini and a short skirt. "Can I have a cabin with a lake view since I'm the prettiest?" If any normal girl would have said that, it would have come off rather arrogant, but with her it just sounded like she was airheaded. And stupid.

"Okay, you are, but that's not really how it works here, and it's _Chris_" he replied, obviously offended. Not that the blond noticed, she was too busy pouting.

" I have to live with Sadie or I'll _die_" said one of the two matching girls, grabbing the hand of the girl next to her, which I assumed was Sadie.

"Yeah, and I'll break out in hives." Sadie said. "It's true"

"This can _not_ be happening," said the goth girl, rather annoyed.

"Oh come on guys ," Owen said, who was sitting behind her, and grabbed her and the red sweat suit guy in a head lock. "It'll be fun. It's like a big sleepover!"

"At least you don't have to sleep next to him" the red sweat suit guy said to the goth girl, looking over at the punk guy, who was giving a deer a nuggie. Freak.

"Here's the deal," said Chris, holding up a piece of paper with all of out names on it. "we're going so split you up into teams, so if I call your name go stand over there. Gwen, Trent, Heather, Cody, Lindsey, Beth, Katie, Owen, Lashawna, Justin and Noah. From this moment on you will officially be known as the Screaming Gophers!" Chris tossed a flag with their team logo on it to Owen.

"Yeah! I'm a gopher, Whooo!" Owen yelled. So that mean that I was on a team with all the people he hadn't called. I was excited to be on a team with Bridgett, but not so much that punk guy. I hated people that just wouldn't follow the rules, the seriously got on my nerves.

"Wait, what about Sadie?" said the smaller of the two matching friends, but Chris just ignored her.

"The rest of you, over here. Geoff, Bridgett, DJ, Tyler, Sadie, Izzy, Courtney, Izekeal, Duncan, Eva, and Harold. Move, move, move!"

"But Katie's a Gopher! I have to be a Gopher!" exclaimed Sadie. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, getting separated form the only person she knew here, and having to compete against here best friend.

"Sadie, is it?" I said, putting my hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Come on, it'll be okay." I lead her over to the rest of our team, but she turned her head around and called out to Katie.

"'This is so unfair, I miss you Katie!"

"I miss you too!" Katie called back, extending a hand out towards her.

"You guys will be know as, the Killer Bass!" Chris said, once we were all gathered. He tossed our team flag over to geeky looking kid, who unrolled it to reveal our team's logo of a bass.

"It's awesome, it's like, amazing" said the geek, smiling.

"Alright campers, you and your team will be on camera in all public areas during this competition." Chris told us, pointing to cameras around the island. "You will also be able to share your innermost thoughts at any time with video diaries anytime you want. Let the audience know what your really thinking. Or just get something off your chest." He pointed to the outhouse over near the cabins. Really classy, not. "Alright, any questions. Good, now lets go find your cabins." He started to walk off and all of us followed, until we came to beat up looking cabins. "Gophers in the east cabin, Bass your in the west"

Several of the campers went over to the confessional, others went to unpack, like me. When I walked into the cabin, I saw that they were bunk beds. I made sure to grab a top bunk, because the wood didn't look to sturdy on the beds, and I didn't want it collapsing on top of me in the middle of the night. I quickly unpacked, and took off on a hike with my iPod to go explore the island a little bit. I heard Chris say dinner was in a half hour on my way out of the cabin, so I figured I could get to know everyone at then.

I walked along around a trail by a lake, humming along to a song by Frenz Ferdinand. Until, that is, I herd a loud shriek form back at camp pierce through the tune.

* * *

Duncan POV

"Excuse me, Chris?" asked Geoff, the guy in a cowboy hat. "Is there a chaperone of any kind in this facility?" He was looking at Bridgett, when he asked this, which gave me a pretty good idea of why he wanted to know.

"Your all 16 years old, as old as any counselor in training at a regular summer camp. So other then myself, you'll be unsupervised. You've got a half an hour to unpack and meet me back at the main lodge starting, now!" said Chris. Now that was exactly the answer I wanted to here. Although it was fun to piss off the authority, and annoy the hell out of them, I figured it would only get me sent back to jail even quicker. Plus no authority meant no rules. This was gonna be one sweet summer.

From what I could tell, Chris was completely laid back, and enjoyed a good prank just as much as the next guy, if not more. I mean, just look at the dock collapsing stunt earlier today. There was no way that was just accident. Realty shows had to go through all kinds of precaution to make sure thins were safe, and checking the area was one of the first things they did. Not even a show like this was going to skip that, they were too afraid of a lawsuit. Besides, Chris wasn't _that_ stupid. The whole fumbling with the camera thing was just delaying things until the dock finally gave way. I had to give the guy props for that one, even if he did get me soaked. Plus I couldn't complain about seeing all those girls in wet t-shirts.

"Nice," said cowboy hat guy, then turned around and headed back into the cabin to unpack. I followed behind him, claiming my bed and starting to unpack myself.

"So, planning for some sweet hook ups this summer?" I said to Geoff, smirking a bit.

"Oh yeah," he said, and I could only guess he was thinking about Bridgett. The two of us high fived, and started talking about all the girls that we though were possible candidates. After a few minutes DJ walked up and joined the conversation. We would have continued to talk about that if it weren't for the ear splitting shriek that came from the girl's side of our cabin.

All of us ran over to their side and pocked our heads in the door, only to find Lindsey standing on top of a chair in the middle of the room.

"Oh man, that white girl can scream." Lashawna said. I couldn't agree more.

"What is it!?! Kill it! Kill it!" Lindsey yelled, cowering on top of the chair in horror. Girls could be such wimps at times. I mean come on, it was just on damn cockroach.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" DJ screamed. For such a burly guy he could really shriek. He dove onto one of the beds, breaking it in the process.

"That was my bed" said Gwen, making no attempt at hiding the annoyed look on her face.

That was it, I couldn't take it anymore. I went outside to see if I could find anything to kill the thing with, and I spotted an axe just sitting out by the shed.

_This will work_, I thought. It was a little much but hey, the sharper the weapon the more entertaining it would be to squish the roach. I couldn't help but wonder thinking why that axe was just sitting there though. I mean, it was like they were just begging me to do something stupid.

I sauntered back into the cabin, and calmly raised the axe over my head, and cut the cockroach in half. Just as I did so, I saw that prep, Courtney, pop her head back into the room to wee what was going on. When she saw me using the axe to kill the bug, she just rolled her eyes.

_Well I guess I am going to have someone to annoy the hell out of after all,_ I thought, sending a smirk her way. This only pissed her off. God, this was going to be so much fun.

"Well, that's one way to kill a cockroach" said Gwen, clearly amused.

"Aaaaaawsome" Harold said. Freak.

Tyler came jogging in behind me- at least I think he was tying to jog- and went right up to Lindsey.

"Ya ever see one of those again, just let me know, kay?" Tyler said to her, trying to sound cool. Not that Lindsey noticed; she wasn't exactly that bright. Combined that with Tyler's lack of coordination and the two mad a perfect messed up couple. "Cuz, ya know, I could do that too." Lindsey gave him a goofy smile. What was it about sports guys anyways? He wasn't even that good!

"They always go for the jocks." I said, but I had to by happy for the guy, because he obviously didn't get much action back home.

"Well it's better then the alternative," Courtney said, giving me a repulsed look.

"Yeah, I know. Who'd want someone with a stick up their ass?" I rested the urge to say more breezing by her on my way out the door. And the shocked look on her face was totally worth it. I could tell that Courtney was the type of person to always get her way, no matter what, and was a stickler for the rules. It was going to be one hell of a time knocking this girl down a few pegs.

I walked back into our side of the cabin to finish unpacking, and Geoff was close behind.

"Going after a feisty chick, nice man," I was about to tell him that I was just messing with her, but then I actually though about it. Me and Courtney, Well, maybe if I could get her to loosen up a bit, because girls like that were always hot as long as they learned how to live a little. And nothing turned me on more then someone who would always fight right back, no matter who it was.

And that was a quality she defiantly had, it was obvious even though I had only just met her. I decided not to give a real answer, so I could think about it a little more, so I just shrugged at Geoff, and we high fived.

Not to much later, we were being called to the lodge for dinner. I walked in and could immediately smell the food, and that wasn't exactly a smell you wanted to sniff.

_Only a few weeks of this shit, you can do it. _I really wasn't looking forward to eating, but I didn't show it. It was only my first day here, and I didn't want to look like so wimp. Hell, I wanted people to be scared of me; it was a bit of an unofficial strategy I had decided on.

I walked in line behind Gwen, trying to breathe though my mouth. After a while I got used to the smell, and it wasn't so bad anymore.

"Listen up!" said a burly black guy from behind the food bar, wearing an apron and waving around a soup ladle. Really intimidating. "I sever at three times a day, and you will eat at three times a day! Pick out your tray, get your food, and sit your butts down now!" Wow, this guy was really serious. It was going to be so much fun to mess with him.

"Excuse me, will we be getting all the major food groups?" Beth asked, as the man scooped food onto her and Harold's tray.

"Yeah, cuz I get hypoglycemic real bad if I don't get lots of sugar." Harold told him. The man just glared at both of them, his face like stone. Big mistake.

"SIT YOUR BUTTS DOWN" he yelled at the two of them, leaning over the counter and getting up in their faces. The two ducked their heads and scampered off to their seats.

"Have a cow," Own whispered to Noah. Man, these guys really didn't get it did they?

"What was that?!" the man yelled at them. The two boys both instantly looked scared, not wanting to be the victim of the man's next fit. "Come closer big guy, I didn't hear you."

"Uh, I" Owen stuttered, not daring to look him in the eyes. "I didn't really say anything important."

"I'm sure you didn't" the burly man replied, looking smug and pissed at the same time. "You, scrawny kid, gimme your plate!" he said to Noah. Noah put his plate our and the man tried to scoop some of today's meal onto his tray, only as soon and it was off the scoop it jumped back on. I tried not to barf. Eventually he finally got it off, and Noah took his seat.

Next in line was Lindsey. She tool one look at the food on her plate, and immediately her face scrunched up in confusion.

"Excuse me? My nutritionist says I shouldn't eat any white sugar, white flour, or like, dairy." Lindsey said. Like the chief actually cared.

"I don't think that's gonna be a problem," Gwen told here, looking at the food with a repulsed look.

"Cool" Lindsey smiled and walled away. What and airhead. I wonder if someone dropped her on her head when she was younger?

"Um, I hate to be predictable and complain on the first day, but I think mine just moved" said Gwen. The man took out a meat hammer, and pounded the food on her plate, splattering it over both of them. He still had that same expressionless look, even though he was covered with food. Man this guy would be a good prison guard.

"Great, okay then" Gwen told him, smiling in a scared looking way, walking quickly away from him to go sit down.

Next it was my turn.

"Hey," I said, smiling at the man, as he plodded the very unappetizing food onto my tray. I decided that I would try and act nice with him, since I didn't want to push my luck on the first day. But then I looked at his face again, all hard and emotionless. Okay, screw it, these wimps needed to learn how to handle someone like him anyways. I continued to smile at him and said, "Thanks for the shit, chief," and walked away before he could say anything. I could tell he was steaming mad, but the person in line behind me came up to him before he could get the chance to yell at me.

I sat down at the table, only a few seats away from Courtney, on the other side of the table. The politician-to-be was working the table like a pro, and going on about some CIT training thing. I caught her glancing at me, and smirked. She just huffed and turned back to Katie, but whatever. She would warm up to me eventually.

* * *

Courtney POV

Pig.

That punk guy just thinks he's all that, acting like he owns me. Arrogant jerk.

_Calm, cool, and collected, it's the only way to win. _I had to just shake it off, so I when back to the conversation I was having with Katie, but my thought just kept drifting back to _him_, Who did he think he was anyways?!!?

_Stop thinking about him! He's not important. Strategy Courtney! _Okay, time to snap out of it, I had to get back to my game plan. For all of dinner, I had been talking to everyone at the table, making sure I was friends with everyone. I was kind of far from Bridgett, but that was okay. We had talked for the entire time leading up to dinner, after I had come back to the cabin, so I knew we had a secure friendship.

"I just can't believ, I'm not with Sadie!" wailed Katie, she had been going on about this for the entire conversation, but I couldn't just cut here off. Besides, listening to other people showed great leadership skills. "I've _never_ not been on a team with her before!"

"Oh, Katie, I'm sure-" but I was cut off by Chris, who had finally reappeared.

_Thank god. _I know it was mean but even I could only take so much of Katie's sorrows.

And oh my god, did some if this 'food' just crawl across the floor?!!?

"Welcome to the main lodge." Chris said to all of us, just as I was pushing my plate away form me, no longer hungry. Man, I could go for some pizza right now, or some chocolate. Mmmmmmmm.

"Yo, my man, could we order some pizza?" asked Geoff. My thoughts exactly. Before I could comment, a knife, coming from the kitchen, when whipping by Geoff's head, just barely missing him. "Whaoooo, it's cool chief, brown slop is cool, aahaha, Right guys" he said nervously, and everyone nodded too. I went along with them, because I don't think Chief was the kink of person to miss twice.

"Your first challenge begins in… I hour!" Chris continue on, as if nothing had happened. Wasn't he even going to say anything to Chief? He should be FIRED! This was _so_ not the show I had signed up for. But it was okay, I was still going to win, and then it would all be worth it.

"What do you think they'll make us do?" Katie asked DJ. Oh that's right, the challenge. I wonder what it will be?

"It's our first challenge, how hard can it be?" DJ replied. I originally thought the same thing, but after everything this show had done, I wasn't so sure.

_Oh come on Courtney, it'll be fine. Positive thinking, I can do this. It's just a stupid game show, how bad could it possibly be?_

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_Oh. My. God. Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod! _This could not be happening. This had to be a crazy prank! They couldn't really be making us do _this _for our first challenge, could they?

I looked out over the top of the cliff, down at the rocks below, and my face when pale. _How pathetic, _I thought to myself, _only 16 and I'm going to die on a game show!

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**A/N: Okay, so tell me what you thought! Ill post the next chap as soon as i can, but that could be awhile. Review please!**_

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	6. Not So Happy Campers Part 2

**A/N: this chapter is twice as long as any of my other chapters, so I hope it's good. That's the reason it took me so long. I was going to wait to put it up, but I thought that'd be mean :-) So, here it is!**

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Not So Happy Campers Part 2

Courtney POV

"Your first task is to jump of this 100 foot high cliff, and into the lake" Chris said. Yeah a lake full of SHARKS!

"Piece of cake" Bridgett said to Tyler, the wanna be jock, and they exchanged smiles. Well of course _she_ would think that, the girl practically lived in the ocean. But not everyone was used to swimming with _deadly creatures_.

"If you look down, you will see two target areas." Chris continued, pointing down into the water. "The wider part of the lake represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with psychotic," he paused to laugh. Actually LAUGH, like it was funny we were all about to get killed! "man eating sharks! Inside that area is a safe zone, that's your target area, which, we're pretty sure is shark free. " He's PRETTY SURE!?!?! What was WRONG with this show, we were all going to DIE and he didn't even give a shit!

"Excuse me?" Lashawna said, with a bit of sass, not believing what Chris was saying either.

_Okay, calm down Courtney, deep breaths. It's just a game show; they aren't actually going to let us all die. _The reasonable side of me thought this, and it was right, which calmed me down a bit. I focused on my breathing until I had finally stopped panicking enough to think straight. There was no way they were going to risk someone dying, the sharks had to have been trained or something. Plus, someone would have tested the stunt to make sure it was safe. But either way, it was still 100 feet, and there was just too much that could go wrong. Even if they tested it, you could tell by everything else in this camp that keeping the campers safe and happy wasn't in their best interests.

"For each member of your team that jumps and actually survives, there will be a crate of supplies waiting below. Inside each crate are supplies you will need to complete the second part of your challenge; building a hot tub. The team with the best one gets to have a wicked hot tub party tonight. The losers, will be sending someone home. Let's see, Killer bass, your up first." finished Chris. Okay, so, I needed come up with a plan, and fast. If I was going to get out of this, I needed a reasonable excuse, so my team wouldn't think I was weak, or blame me for losing, and vote me off if we lost. I looked over at the other team, and judging by the looks on their faces, I didn't think they would all jump, so losing wouldn't be a problem.

"Oh, wow," Bridget said, looking over the edge. "So who wants to go first?" Even suffer girl wasn't so confident once she really saw how high up we were. And when she got silence from her team as a reply, I defiantly know that I wouldn't be the only person to chicken out.

"Hey don't sweat it guys," Owen said, finally breaking the silence, "I heard these shows always make the interns do the stunt first to make sure it's survivable." Okay, that was probably true, but I didn't see that many interns around here, which said something about how hard they were on them. There was still no way I was doing this. If I got injured, I would be the first one to go home, and then what would I do?

"So, who's up?" Eva asked, looking around at everyone, even she didn't want to go.

"Ladies first" said Duncan, and it was clear to me the only reason he said it was because he was scared of jumping too. Well, I guess Mr. Badass wasn't as tough as everyone thought. I was defiantly going to use that against him in the future.

"Alright, I'll go first." Bridgett volunteered. She really was nice, taking the heat off of everyone else. "No big deal, just an insane cliff dive into a lake full of sharks."

Bridgett jumped off the cliff, arms spread wide open, and folding into a point like she was diving. She landed safely in the safe zone and waved back up to all of us. But even after that I still wasn't convinced it was safe. Bridgett knew the ocean better then anyone else here.

_Now if I could just figure out a way to get out of this little stunt…_

"She did it, yeah, alright, I'm next." Tyler said enthusiastically. "Kowabunga!" he jumped off the cliff and into the water, only instead of landing in the safe zone he crashed into a buoy. Ouch.

After that, everyone started jumping off the cliff, and they looked like they were actually enjoying it too. Except for Duncan, who looked entirely bored, yet just a few minutes ago he was volunteering someone else to go first. What a hypocrite.

This was just great! They all liked it! How was I ever going to get out of this now!?!? There was no way I could actually go through with it. Besides the fact that it was a _100 ft cliff_, I couldn't risk injury. I never did anything athletic; my stunt doubles always had that covered for me. I mean, I didn't really have to do something like, jump off a 100 ft cliff, in any of my movies roles. And if I got injured , not only could it hurt my chances at winning, but it could also permanently rearrange my face, from a crash of 100ft. And then I could kiss my days of acting goodbye. Oh and did I mention it was a _100 FT CLIFF DIVE_?!!?

The risk _far _outweighed the gain, so I was just going to have to make something up. At least I was finally going to put all those improve classes my agent made me take to some good use. I had a feeling I was going to be using those skills a lot throughout this show.

Then, as I thought all this, I saw DJ standing at the edge of the cliff, looking a bit scared.

"Uh-uh, no way man, I'm not jumping" DJ said, shaking his head.

_Thank God._

"Scared of heights?" asked Chris, looking sympathetic, but I had been in the business long enough to know it was fake. He was only acting.

"Yeah, ever since I was a little kid" he replied.

"Oh that's okay big guy." Chris's tone was still had that fake sincerity, but immediately after changed to a mocking one. "But that just makes you a chicken! So you'll have to wear this for the rest of the day." he told him, placing a chicken hat on his head.

"Aw man, for real?" DJ asked, looking at him in disbelief

_Just great, I'm going to have to wear a freaking chicken hat! Well, there goes my role as a fashion icon. _I thought, but at least it was better then messing up my face.

I had to admit, as relived as I was that I wasn't the only one on my team that didn't jump, I was also worried. This meant that at least two people on the other team had to chicken out too, in order for us to win.

"The chicken path down, is thata way." Chris pointed over his shoulder to escalate. An escalator! And yet they couldn't afford to give us some food that didn't make us gag.

One by one the rest of our team finished jumping, and I waited for the last possible moment to chicken out, so I could come up with a better excuse. The Killer Bass that had already jumped cheered our teammates on, except for Harold, who landed in the splits. That looked even worse then Tyler's landing.

"Oh, hate to see that happen." Chris said, referent to the fact that Harold had just landed on his balls.

Okay, I had to say something now, or else jump. Only one person was left and Katie looked to preoccupied crying with Sadie to want to jump off just then.

"Excuse me, Chris?" I said, keeping my voice as confident as possible. The only way to make this work was to own it. "I have a medical condition."

"What condition?" he asked, not looking too convinced.

"A condition that prevents me from jumping off cliffs." I said as if it was obvious. _So much for all those improve classes. _I mean, seriously, how lame was that? I really hope my agent never sees this.

"You can chicken out if you want, but it might end up costing your team the win. And then they'll hate you." Chris said, giving me a smirk, actually enjoying my misery. As if I hadn't already thought of that fact. Did he really need to bring it up again? But as I was learning, that was just Chris. Jerk.

"It's a calculated risk. I've seen the other team, and I don't think nine of them will jump" I said, and smiled at him, like was indifferent to his digs. It but it came off a bit angry, and I knew he could tell that that the stunt had shaken me a bit. Otherwise I wouldn't be chickening out of the challenge.

"All right, here's your chicken hat" he said, placing one of those ridiculous hats on top of my head, which caught me off guard. In all my scheming I had forgotten about that. I was never going to live this down.

"So, lets tally up the results. Hold on, that's eight jumpers and two chickens. We're missing one" said Chris, who looked around and then spotted the two twin BFFL's, Katie and Sadie, locked in a hug, and not about to let go of each other anytime soon.

"I'm not jumping without Katie!" said Sadie, hugging Katie harder.

"We have to be on the same team Chris!" Katie added, with pleading eyes.

"Please, please, please!" They begged together. They had actually gotten down on their knees in front of Chris. Even he couldn't say no to that kind of desperation. "Can we, can we, can we, can we?!!?" Then they started jumping up and down, excited at the idea o finally being on a team together.

"I'll switch places with her." Izzy volunteered.

"Alright, fine, your both on the killer bass now." Chris told them, sounding really annoyed. He probably only agreed to shut them up. "Izzy, you're on the screaming gophers." Izzy just shrugged and walked over to her new team. Katie and Sadie squealed in delight, and started jumping up and down again.

"Girls, that means your up!" Chris told them. The two girls grabbed hands and ran off the cliff together, huge smiles on their faces. Now that the last of my team had jumped off, I figured I should start going back down the mountain. I didn't want to give them time to talk about me after I had already chickened out of the first challenge.

I raced down the way to long escalator to catch up with DJ, hoping to use this opportunity to make another alliance on the island.

"Hey," I said when I had finally caught up to him. "my name's Courtney, it's nice to meet you," I smiled and extended my hand out to him, a totally Courtney Mahn type move. I was really getting good at being her, I came almost naturally now. Although I had to admit, I was a lot like her myself, in terms of leadership anyways, not the whole out of control temper thing. I was always calm and collected. Most of the time.

"Hey, I'm DJ" he replied, grabbing my hand. "It's good to meet you…" but he trailed off as we suddenly heard someone screaming. We looking back up to the cliff and saw Heather tumbling off the edge, with Lashawna peering down at her. Apparently, Heather had been tossed of the cliff by Lashawna; Heather probably just didn't want to get her hair wet. What a wimp, I mean I know I hadn't jumped either, but not wanting to screw up your face was something _completely_ different.

"Wow… well I'm glad she wasn't on our team for this first challenge." DJ said. I couldn't agree more. I wouldn't have wanted to be thrown off that cliff either.

"Yeah me too." I said, feeling a bit nervous now. Would one of our team members have done that to me if they hadn't all jumped off already? I could totally just picture that punk throwing me over his shoulder and jumping off with me, and it wasn't an image that I liked at all. Except maybe the part where I got picked up by a shirtless Duncan.

_What, no I don't, why would you ever that?!?!_

"Hey, you don't think our team will, you know, hold it against us for not jumping?" He asked me nervously.

"No, of course not! Everyone has something they can't do. We'll just show them in the second part of the challenge how much we're worth." I told him. I really didn't think chickening out would be a problem, as long as we worked hared in the rest of the challenge. That stunt was so crazy, they really couldn't blame us.

"Okay, that's good." He smiled in relief, and you could feel all of the tension created by Heather being hurled of a cliff completely disappear. He must have been worrying about that for a while.

"So, what made you want to come on the show?" He asked me, smiling genuinely. I could already tell that DJ was nicer then his build suggested.

"I just figured it would give me some life experience and leadership skills I can use later on. What about you?" I said breezily. Thank god Jen and I had spent so long practicing my answers to those kinds of questions. The two of us made sure I had all of my background facts down, otherwise I would be telling different things to different people, which would have eventually come back to haunt me.

"Well, I wasn't doing anything this summer, and I thought it might be fun to do a game show. I'm actually glad it ended up being a summer camp; I really like animals. Especially bunnies, they're just so cute and fluffy, ya know?" Wow, I was stunned. It wasn't every day you meet such a burly guy who like things that were cute and fluffy. Or that were afraid of heights for that matter. But it was nice that DJ was a sensitive guy, I liked it. After all of the stuck up actors of Hollywood, his personality was almost refreshing.

"Yeah, they are," I said, smiling sincerely at him. "I bet you're in heaven out here, with all of the wildlife." I said.

"Yeah, it's just so great, yo! All of the dear and birds and…" the two of us kept talking about things like that for the rest of the way down the cliff, really getting to know each other. Before I knew it, we had already joined back up with the rest of our team. I looked over to the team opposite of ours and all of my giddiness from talking with DJ instantly left, my face going pale.

_Oh no, I'm so screwed! _Only one person on the Screaming Gophers had chickened out so far, and there was only one person left to go. I looked back up at the cliff and saw it was Owen. Okay, I still had a chance, Owen wasn't all that tough, and if he chickened out we'd both be equal.

"Okay campers," Chris said, he was now standing on the edge of the cliff with a bullhorn, looking down at all of us on the beach. "there's only one person left, you guys need this jump for the win. No pressure dude." he said, turning to Owen, who looked relived. "Okay there's pressure!" Chris yelled, which freaked Owen out a bit.

Down here on the beach, all of Owen's teammates on the Screaming Gophers all cheered him on, encouraging him to jump. God I really hope he didn't do it, because if he did, DJ and I were both screwed.

Owen, back up on the cliff, was putting his water wings on. Actual water wings, like the kind 3 year olds used to learn how to swim. I started to worry less about myself and more about him. If this guy jumped, he might not make it. And then he would die, and we would still loose the challenge. Just perfect.

"Man, I don't think this guy can make it." DJ said, which is what we were all thinking.

"Me neither. Is he really going to try?" I said, sounding concerned for him, but really just wanting him to chicken out for my benefit. I know it was wrong, but I wanted to win this so badly, I just couldn't help it. We needed to beat them. We had to win this, there was simply no other option.

"I hope he doesn't," Bridgett said, looking a bit nervous for him. "I've seen what happens to people that can't swim when they don't know the ocean that well, and it's never good."

Before we could talk about it anymore, Owen started running to the end of the cliff, at top speed, and we all went silent, watching him preparing to plug to his doom.

He sprang off the cliff, his body flailing in every direction, landing on his stomach, making a splash that went half way up the cliff, and sending a tidal wave our way. It was just a huge wall of water hurling towards as at top speed. There was no time to run, though some people tried, and all I could do was watch as the water enveloped all of us, carrying us out on the beach in every direction. The sand was now coved with bodies sprawled on the shore, and boards that once made up an old shack. I think I even saw a shark that had gotten stuck on the top of a tree. I guess Owen must be bigger then I thought.

"Yes, yeah, oh yeah, who's the man!" Owen cheered form the water, pumping his fists in the air. Someone up on shore got into it with him, but I couldn't tell who.

"The winners, the Screaming Gophers!" Chris announced into this mega phone, from back up on top of the cliff. The winning team started cheering and jumping up and down.

"That was awesome man," Trent, who was still our on the boat, said to Owen, but then noticed he looked a little worried, "hey, what's wrong?"

"I think I may have lost my bathing suit." Owen replied, arousing a chorus of ewws form everyone, including me. That was a sight no one needed to see.

I got up and brushed myself off, looking around at the beach. The boxes with the materials to build a hot tube were now scattered everywhere along the beach, which meant we were going to have to find all of them, taking us that much longer to get moving.

"Hey guys, had anyone seen my swim trunks?" Owen said, now stepping off the boat that had carried him to shore, and he was completely naked. I turned me head away immediately, and everyone else did the same. This got another round of eww's and groans form all of us.

"Well, at least he survived." I said to no one in particular, trying to stay positive.

"Yeah, but which is better, a casualty or _that_?"someone said form behind me.

"Good point." I agreed, turning around only to find I was talking to Duncan. I whipped my head back around, my face burning red (with anger, obviously, because there was _no way_ I would blush because of _him_) and when off to go find a crate.

"But seriously, guys, I can't find them anywhere…" Owed said, trailing off when Chris rode up on a movie set style golf cart.

"Okay campers! You have until dark to get back to camp and built your hot tubs. Your supply crates are, well, the used to be over there," Chris said, pointing over to a spot on the beach, "but thanks to Owen's title wave, they been scattered all over. Screaming Gophers, congrats, you won, your carts ore over there." Wait, what? When did he say that the winners got carts!?! Just great, another reason for my team to hate me. "Killer Bass, you better get moving, because you only have 3 hours, and it's a long way back!" And then Chris laughed, yet again, at our misery. This was ridiculous , the entire challenge was meant to make us suffer! And if one challenge was like that, the rest of them would be to. All of them were going to be extreme like this one, and it wasn't like I could chicken out of all of them. What had I gotten myself into?!

As I moped around in my depressed state, I started looking around for a box. Before we even half of our team had found one to push, the Gophers had already loaded all of them on to the cart, and were now moving towards camp, singing '99 bottles of soda on the wall'. This only worsened my mood.

Once I finally found a box, I went to start pushing it, but felt a sharp prick at my finger.

"Oww, I think I just got a splinter!" I cried, examining my finger. Then Eva came stomping up to me, looking pissed. She lifted my crate effortlessly into the air, almost hitting me in the process.

"Shut it and pick up your crate." She slammed it back down again, as a cowered in fear. "Chicken." she sneered at me. I had to think of something to say back, and fast, or else she might just get me sent home, but my fear was impairing my ability to think of something to quip back at her.

"But I'm the only one here with CIT camping experience!" I said, and you could hear the fear in my voice, but I put my hands firmly on my hips to make up for it. "You need me." And it was true. In my last movie, I had played the part of a camp counselor, who fell in love with a camp lifeguard. I had taken a CIT course to study for the part.

Eva just glared at me, then turned and did the same to DJ, and walked away. But DJ came up to me and patted me on the shoulder.

"It's okay yo, we'll just show them how much they need us, right?" he said, and looking into those puppy dog eyes of his I just couldn't help but encourage him.

"Of course!" I replied, trying to smile as best I could, even though inside I was still terrified. So far, it was really paying off that I was such a good actor.

I pushed my crate along, not putting much effort into it, and as a result ending up behind everyone else along with Katie and Sadie.

I knew that no matter what happened, I was doomed. Every challenge was gong to be way more extreme them I ever thought possible, and even if I didn't get voted off this week, I was just going to chicken out again next week. And then I'd be voted off for sure.

"I've gotta take a wiz" said Tyler, grunting as he threw down his crate.

"Just hurry up! We're already behind." Eva snipped at him. Was she ever _not_ mad?

"Oh, I have to go too." Katie told us.

"Oh my gosh, me too!" Sadie replied, and the two giggled as they walked behind a tree next to the one Tyler was already peeing on. We were so going to loose this challenge.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, some bug flew into my eye, and bit me.

"Ow! I think something just bit me!" I announced, clamping my hand over my eye.

"Oh, suck it up!" Eva told me, and I shut my mouth, still somewhat scared of her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two girls finally finished, long after Tyler. Did the really not get how far behind we were?

"All better?" Eva asked.

"Yep!" said Katie, oblivious to the fact that Eva was still pissed off. Apparently all was good and happy in her eyes as long as she had Sadie. God, I really wish I had Jen to talk to right now.

"Can we go now?" I asked, a bit impatient. Even though I knew my situation was hopeless, the determined side of me still wanted to win. "I think my eye is swelling up."

Everyone walked back over to their boxes and started pushing again.

"Oooh, something's itching me, are you itchy too?" Sadie asked Katie.

"Totally itchy, really bad." Katie replied.

A couple minutes later, they started complaining again.

"ooooo, it's really itching now!" Sadie whinnied.

"Mine feels like it's burning" said Katie. I looked at them and saw that both of their butt's were really red. Oh my god, they sat down on poison ivy!

"Okay, I have to scratch!"

"Hey, you guys are way behind the other team." Chris informed us, driving up on an ATV. Apparently the golf cart just wasn't cool enough for him. "Like way behind. What's the problem?"

"There butt's are itchy!" I cried, annoyed at their stupidity. It had to be poison ivy.

"Gah!" Chris yelled when he turned to look at me, referring to my eye. I knew it had to be bad, I could just feel how much it had swelled up. "Oh my boxers that's bad."

Bridgett walked up to Katie and Sadie, having the same idea as me as to why there butt's itched, judging by the question she asked next.

"Did you guys squat down when you peed in the woods?" she asked them.

"Yeaaaaah" Katie replied.

"Did you happen to notice what kind of plants you were squatting over?"

"They were kind of oval shaped and green and all over the place." Sadie told her, while scratching herself fiercely.

"Were they low to the ground, about this big?" Bridgett moved her hands about 6 inches apart. They both nodded, concentrating too hard on scratching to speak anymore.

Bridget laughed and told them "You guys squatted over poison ivy!" The girls eyes went wide and they started shrieking. What airheads.

"No way, that is too funny" Chris choked out in between laughs. Katie and Sadie started to rub their butts on the ground.

This was ridiculous! It didn't even matter if I hadn't chickened out, this team was hopeless anyways! We had a 2 airheads, a girl who got pissed off at anything and everything, a juvenile delinquent that wouldn't take an order to save his life, and a wanna be jock that couldn't even run without tripping over his own feet. Not to mention the fact that they couldn't work together, because they all got on each others nerves so much. There was no way this team could ever win if they continued the way they were.

_What the need is a leader to bring them all together. _And as soon as I though this I knew what I was going to have to do, because I was to stubborn to just give up. If there was a way, I would go down fighting.

In Hollywood, I had always gotten people to do my dirty work for me. Whether it was stunt doubles or hiring a handy man. Since was famous, I had the money to do it. But here, not so much. These campers not only needed a leader, but a role model too. If I was going to stay in the game, I was going to have to put in my best effort too, instead of manipulating people into doing it for me. I would have to be a leader, and a hard worker. And damn it, if it might keep me in the game, I would do it! I was going to show my parents one and for all who was boss, and that they couldn't control my life when I was perfectly capable of doing things myself!

With this new determination, I pushed my box as hard as I could, and eventually started passing by all my teammates, thanks to 3 years of having a personal trainer. Seeing this, Duncan started actually putting some effort into pushing his crate, even picking up the crate Sadie and Katie had left behind. I guess he didn't want to hurt his manly pride, and be shown up by a girl. Maybe my plan really was going to work after all.

I was one of the first ones to the camp, along with Ezekiel and Harold, which was a surprise. I wouldn't have thought they were that strong, but then again, I didn't think Duncan could have carried two crates, but I was wrong. Who knew he had that much mucle?

"Finally." Harold said, dropping his box, along with Ezekiel, while I pushed mine right next to his.

"Hey, what's up guys?" asked Trent, smiling at us like he didn't care we were on opposite teams. Or maybe he just knew we were too far behind to have any hope of catching up. Well, we'd show him, or at least I hoped we would.

"Hey, aren't you missing a couple of white girls?" asked Lashawna, referring to Katie and Sadie, who when I glanced over at them, were still sitting the water, now with their pants pulled down. I didn't want to let the other team know about our setback, so I lied.

"Their getting a drink." I said, a bit annoyed, as I propped my head up on my hand, to tired from pushing my crate to hold it up any longer.

"Yeah, if they drink with their butts." Harold whispered to Ezekiel, and they both snickered. How immature.

I walked up to Lashawna, going to ask how their hot tub was coming along. She seemed pretty nice, and I could use all of the alliances I could get once the teams dissolved. Then I remember about the bug bite and went to put my hand over my eye, but she saw it before I could cover it.

"Oooh, what happened to your eye girl?" Lashawna asked me.

"Oh, nothing, it's just allergies." I told her, smiling, to show her it was no big deal.

"Think its gettin' worse." Ezekiel said, totally oblivious to my strategy

"Shhhhh! We don't want _them_ to know tha!." I whispered to him, so the other team couldn't hear.

As the rest of the team got to camp, we all sat down on the cabin's steps, taking a rest before starting on the hot tub. There was no use trying to build it when everyone was too out of breath to even lift up a hammer.

After only a minute, Geoff got up on all of our stacked boxes, and started to speak to all of us.

"Kay, dudes, it's not too late. We can do this!" Okay, what was he doing giving motivational speeches, that was my job! I was going to be the leader here. I took some time to think about what I was going to say, and then got up and started to motivate the team myself. But then I saw Ezekiel picking his nose.

"Ewww." I said, leaning away from him.

"What?" Ezekiel said, staring at me in confusion. Did he honestly just ask me that?

"That's really gross." Bridgett agreed with me, cringing away form him too.

"Okay, look guys," I said, standing up. "We have a hot tub to complete, and we need a project manager. Since I've actually been a CIT before, I'm electing myself. Any objections?"

"Were do we begin Cyclops?" Duncan said. Okay, _no one_ called me a Cyclops, or any other name for that matter. I can't believe I'd actually thought about him being shirtless!

I got right up in his face and snipped at him. "You open the crates!" I said, entirely pissed off at him, and not trying to hide it.

"Bridgett, go find those itchy girls! We need all the help we can get." Bridgett ran off to go get Katie and Sadie, just like I'd asked, and everyone else, including myself, started opening the crates. I went to pull on the rope attached to my crate, but was stopped by Chris.

"Whoa, hold on a sec their Bass, not so fast." Chris said, smirking at us like he was about to tell us something else meant to make this challenge more miserable for us. Which, of course, he was. "You have to open these crates using only…" he paused for dramatic effect, "your teeth!"

"WHAT?!!?!" I cried. Although with all the crazy things he had made us so far, I really shouldn't have been surprised.

"That's ridiculous, man" DJ said, and I was glad someone agreed with me.

"No, guys, its cool, I can totally do this." Tyler said, walking over to his crate. He took the rope in between his teeth and pulled, only his teeth slipped of the rope and he went flying backwards, and into a puddle of mud.

"Nice man." Duncan said, rolling his eyes.

"Well if you think its so easy why don't you try it!" I yelled at him. This team was bad enough without his criticism. Maybe humiliation would teach him some team spirit.

Duncan walked over to Tyler's crate, took the rope in between his teeth, and opened it in one short pull. Ugg.

"Hey, I found them!" Bridgett said, walking up with Katie and Sadie following behind her.

"Hi guys!" Sadie said cheerfully, waving to all of us.

"All right everyone, lets start opening these crates! Just follow Duncan's lead." I told everyone. Wow, those were words I never thought I would have to say.

Everyone eventually got their crates open, Duncan, DJ and Geoff helping those that couldn't get theirs.

We started to assemble the hot tub, and sure it wasn't going as smoothly as the Gopher's, and yes, it fell apart a couple of times. But the important thin was we had gotten it together in the time limit, and worked together like a team doing it. Even if our hot tub didn't' look the best, at least we had been a team.

* * *

Duncan POV

Our hot tub looked like shit.

Harold had tripped holding the nails, and sent all of them flying into the water. As a result, we had to use tape to hold the boards together. And to add to the whole shitty effect, there was a seagull floating in it, whose neck was stuck the plastic piece they use to hold together a six pack. The thing looked like it would fall apart if you even touched it.

I had to give some credit to that Courtney girl though. Without her taking the lead, we would have been to busy bickering to have gotten anything done at all. Not to mention it gave me an excuse to poke fun at her. God she was hot when she was mad. But either way it didn't really matter, because we were still going to loose miserably.

"Alright, times up!" Chris said, coming back from wherever the hell he'd been for the past three hours. What could he possibly do for so long on an island like this? He and Chef had to have so kind of sweet setup somewhere on the island. I would have to make a point to go and find it sometime.

Chris walked over to the Gopher's hot tub- which looked frickin' perfect compared to our piece of shit-and looked over it carefully, saying nothing. We all knew that it was just an act though, because there was no way we had any real chance at winning.

Chris finally finished assessing the Gopher's work and looked up at their team.

"This," he said, pausing for dramatic effect, "Is an awesome hot tub!" Chris threw his hands up in the air and all of the Gophers cheered.

Then, he walked over to ours.

Everyone- except for me of course, and surprisingly Courtney, who must have known what was coming- gasped as he walked over, afraid of what he was going to say. Like they really didn't already know. Even Lindsey wasn't that stupid.

Chris got down and tapped one of the pipes coming out of the side of our hot tub. Immediately following, it sprung a leak and sprayed a solid stream of water right in Chris's face. He jumped away, probably worried that the water would wash out his hair jell. Not that it even had a chance at doing that, considering the ridiculous amount he put on and all.

And then, a horrible cracking sound came form the hot tub, and a few seconds later, the whole thing split apart. Yeah, just one touch. Did I call that or what?

"Well, I think we have a winner here." announced Chris, turning to the other team. "The Screaming Gophers!" The Gophers all broke out into whoops and yells, feeling so happy about their victory. Show offs. "Gophers, your safe from elimination, and, you get to rock this awesome hot tub for the rest of the summer. Bonus!" Chris continued, as he pointed at the camera for effect. "Killer Bass, what can I say, stinks to be you. Ill see your sorry butts at the bonfire tonight."

"Yay we won! We get to stay here for another 3 days!" the dumb blond cried. I was a bit surprised. I didn't think someone like her would have wanted to be here, but, like DJ, she wasn't the only one who had surprised me so far. I mean, who would have thought a big guy like DJ would be such a wimp?

"Yes! We get to sta-ay, we get to sta-ay, We won the contest!" Owen started singing, and dancing around, still without his swim trunks on. It was not something I wanted to see.

"Dinners ready, and if any of you sorry sucker wanna eat you better get in here NOW!" Chef yelled over the camp loud speaker. Even though the thought of another one of his meals sounded appalling to all of us, none of us wanted to go without dinner, so we all headed over to the main lodge. I took my time, and was one of the last ones there, and when I went to sit down, the only spot left was next to Courtney.

As soon as I sat down, she rolled her eyes and angled her body more towards the girls she was talking to. I could just see how pissed she was about loosing the challenge, but she was doing her best to hide it.

Almost everyone was silent, eating their meals, which by the way looked even less edible then lunch, if that was even possible. But no one wanted to bring up the topic of elimination, which we were going to have to face eventually, it was unavoidable.

Finally, one of the two twins- I didn't know who was which, and didn't care to find out- was bold enough to bring up the topic.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" she asked, looking at Courtney expectantly.

"We have to figure out who we're gonna vote off." Courtney replied. Her words came out quickly, like she was trying to stay under control. When she was this pissed, I knew I should probably leave her alone. But when had I ever done the sensible thing anyways?

"Well, I think it should be princess," I said, pointing to Courtney. The name fit her perfectly, with how high-and-mighty she always acted. I was pretty impressed with myself. "or the brick house here," I continued, pointing over to DJ.

"What, why?!" Courtney cried, sounding panicked and furious at the same time. This was just too easy.

"In case I'm mistaken, you two are the only ones wearing chicken hats. And if we ever have to lift a truck, I like our odds with the big guy." I told her, but instead of pissing her off, it just made her more nervous.

"But you guys need me!" she exclaimed, sounding really panicked. Okay, not good, that totally backfired. Now I was going to get her voted off before I even really got the chance to mess with her! "I'm the only one here with real-"

"We know!" Bridget said. She must have really pushed it have even upset suffer girl. "Who used to be a real CIT, so who would you vote off?" Okay, I needed a plan B. I had to get her pissed, so she's be determined enough to save her own ass, which I had to admit form this angle looked pretty hot.

"What about… him!" Courtney pointed to the Tyler, who looked shocked, and somewhat nervous at being singled out.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lindsey cried from across the room, and the whole lodge went silent, turning to stare at her. "I mean, no salt, there's no salt on the table. Bummer." Lindsey sat back down at started eating again, and everyone else did the same, knowing that the show was now over.

"Hey, hey, at least he jumped off the cliff chicken wing!" I yelled at her, hoping this might get her fire back.

"Shut it!" she yelled back, fuming. Oh yeah, it totally worked. She was so agitated. Score.

"Okay, lets just chill out. This is gettin' way to heavy." Geoff told us both, trying to be the peacemaker.

"Ah, I've had enough prison food for one day." I said, pushing my plat away. "I'm gonna go have a nap." If Geoff was going to try and calm things down there was no point in staying. Nothing was ever interesting when everyone was calm. Plus, Courtney wasn't any fun when she wasn't pissed off.

"You can't do that!" Courtney yelled back to me. "We haven't decided who's going yet." True, but I didn't really care who was going. With Courtney as wound up as she was, I she could get everyone to come to an agreement without me. And since I hadn't done anything to piss off anyone yet- except for her of course- I knew it wasn't going to be me.

Ezekiel started to say something, but I was already too far out the door to hear him. I wasn't really that tired, so I decided to go take a walk. I got out my iPod and in my headphones, walking over to the other side of the island. After the kayos of today, it felt nice to finally be able to just zone out. I concentrated on my music, letting go of all my thoughts, and walked off into the night.

* * *

Courtney POV

"Well I don't get why we lost, ay. They're the ones that have 6 girls." Ezekiel said. Okay, WHAT?!?! That infuriated me even more then Duncan's last comment. Which I was still mad about, by the way.

Katie and Sadie both gasped, and Noah's eyes went wide. Eva and Bridget wasted no time getting up in his face, thank god.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bridget asked Ezekiel, glaring.

"Yeah, homes school, enlighten us." Eva told him, stomping her hand on the table causing it to lift up on one side before dropping back down. I was glad I wasn't the only one around here willing to fight to get my point. Ezekiel so had it coming to him after that little comment.

"Well, guys are much stronger and better at sports then girls are." Ezekiel replied. The room went silent, once again, and Katie and Sadie got messed up looks on their faces.

_WHAT THE HELL?!?!!?! This guy is so GOING HOME!!!! How could he even THINK something so sexist!!! If it weren't for me, a GIRL, we wouldn't have even had any of that hot tub build today!_

"Oh. Snap, you did not just say that!" Geoff, said, almost laughing. Well I was glad _someone_ around here thought women were as strong as guys. And for the sake of all the other men staying on the island, hopefully he wasn't the only one.

"My dad told me to look out for the girls here, ay." Ezekiel continued, as if no one had said anything. OH MY GOD! It was a whole freaking family of sexists! "And help them out and stuff incase they can't keep up." Ezekiel just sat there, talking as if it was just plain fact! Eva's eyes went wide with rage, and she reached out and picked him up by his neck.

"Still think we need your help keeping up?" Eva asked him, and he finally looked a bit scared.

"Um, not really." Ezekiel told her, straining to get breath into his lungs.

"Okay, guys" Geoff said, once again trying to be the peacemaker. "lets just give him a break. At least he doesn't think that guys are smarter then girls." Hearing this, Eva finally let go of Ezekiel, and he shrank down underneath the table. Okay, that was true, but still. That guy was going _down_.

"But, they are." Ezekiel said, popping his head up form underneath the table. What was _with_ this guy? How could he just not GET IT?!?!?!!?! He was going on about this as if he were TALKING ABOUT THE FRICKING WEATHER!!!

"Oh, you little-" Eva started, but DJ got up and helped Geoff restrain her before she could get in any real damage. Bridgett just glared at him, probably wanting to punch him just as much as Eva, only she was to nice to actually go through with it.

"Come on Bridgett, let's go." I said to her, putting my hand over her shoulder and leading her out before she did something she would regret later.

Once we were outside, Bridgett took in a deep breath of the cool night air. I did the same, and it really helped clear my head. However, it didn't' make me any less pissed at Ezekiel.

"I just can't believe him." Bridgett said, in a somewhat calm voice. The fresh air must have helped her to. "Guys like that just really-"

"Irritate the hell out of you?" I finished for her.

"Yeah! They just, ugggg!" she said, then looked up at we and we both smiled, and let out a laugh, glad to know someone else knew how the other felt.

"I just don't get how guys can be so sexist!" I told her, the tone now a lot more upbeat now that we were both on the same page.

"I know! It's just like, we were just as good as all the guys in our last challenge! In fact, if you hadn't stepped up our hot tub would have been worse then it already was! And I didn't' see him offering to take the lead." Bridgett vented, and we both exchanged knowing looks.

"Yeah. What a jerk." I replied, shaking my head, and looking up at the sky.

"Okay, lets change to a lighter topic." Bridgett said, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "So, seen any cute guys you like?" The only guy that had really made an impression on me here yet was Duncan, and let me tell you, it wasn't a good one.

"No, not really." I said, my smile a bit tight, still thinking of how much Duncan irritated me. He just thought he could say anything to anybody and get away with him. Well, I was so going to teach him a lesson.

"Whoa, what was that all about?" Bridgett commented, noticing my irritation. Dang it! What was it about people like her that they could always pick out those things?

"Oh, nothing." I sighed, "Duncan just really gets on my nerves." My muscles tensed up in anger at the thought of him.

"Haha, yeah, he's not exactly one to play by the rules, is he?" Bridgett said, smiling. But the way she said it made me think that maybe there was something she thought about him that she wasn't telling me. But I decided to let it go for now.

"Tell me about it!" I said, rolling my eyes, and laughing with her. "So what about you? Got your eyes on anyone?" Bridgett immediately blushed and I could tell that the answer was a definite yes.

"Well, Geoff is really cute. And nice too." she said looking down at the ground. I was going to have to try and set those two up. They really were the perfect couple.

The two of us continued talking for the rest of the night, only stopping to go into the confessional (we went in and voted together, both of us choosing Ezekiel, obviously). Before we knew it, it was already time to go to the bonfire.

Since we lost track of time, we got there last, and the only 2 seats left were next to Ezekiel, which everyone was glaring at.

"Dude, you've got a lot to learn about the real word" Duncan said to Ezekiel, after all of us had sat down. Geoff or someone must have filled him in on what went down in the cafeteria. I was surprised that he really felt that way, after all of the times he had made such rude comments to me. Everything Duncan did just seemed to confuse me about him that much more.

"Killer Bass," started Chris, for once acting serious, and holding out a tray of 10 marshmallows for all of us to see. "'at camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, marshmallows represent _life_. " While Chris was making his overdramatic little speech, I saw Geoff smile and Bridgett, and tip his hat at her. She smiled ant looked at the ground. Those two were going to make _such_ a cute couple.

"You've all cast your votes and made your decision." Chris went on. Oh just get _on_ with it already, we all knew who was going home. "There are only 10 marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight, must immediately return to the dock of shame, and catch to boat of losers. That means, your out of the contest." Blah, blah, blah. Just announce that Ezekiel was going home already so we could all get back to our lives! "And you can't come back, _ever._ The first marshmallow goes to… Geoff" Geoff got up and walked over to get his marshmallow form Chris, walking happily back to his seat. Finally! It was about time. I sat there feeling smug, knowing that Ezekiel was getting what was coming to him.

"Tyler"

"Yes. Oh yeas! Spot at the table baby!" Tyler cried, pumping his fists in the air.

"Katie" Katie just walked up calmly to Chris, sticking her marshmallow on a stick to roast.

"Bridgett, DJ, Harold."

"Yesssss." Harold said, walking up to claim his treat.

"Sadie!"

"Yes, oh thank you!" Sadie cried, running over to join Katie.

"Duncan" Oh just great, since Ezekiel was being voted off that meant I had to spend another week with _him._

Now, it just came down to just me and Ezekiel, and I had a momentary flash of panic. My team hadn't turned on me for Ezekiel, had they?

"Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening." Chris announced. Oh why did game shows have to torture us by prolonging the suspense. Oh yeah, for their stupid ratings. I actually started biting my nails in fear because he was taking so long. Chris started pointing back and forth between the two of us. Oh this was too much, I couldn't watch! "Courtney." Oh yes! Thank god! I did it, I was really staying!

I let out a sigh of relief, and went to go and roast my marshmallow with the other campers.

"Can't say I'm shocked." Chris said to Ezekiel. "Saw you picking your nose dude, not cool. Dock of shame is that way bro." He said, pointing off behind him. Was that really what Chris thought this was about? Wow, he was waaaaay out of the loop. "The rest of you, enjoy your marshmallows, your all safe, for tonight." he said that last part in a menacing tone to all of us, but I didn't care. I went to go and roast the evil little blob of high fructose corn syrup over the fire. It was amazing all the things that sounded good to me after Chefs cooking. Man, did I have a lot to tell Jen.

_One day down, 41 more to go._

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**A/N: And that was it! Please review, I luv hearing what you think! My next chapter will hopefully b up next Saturday. It's going to be great! I'm doing this whole capture the flag thing where I keep switching pov, and its gonna b sooo awesome! **


	7. Capture the Flag

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A/N: Hey! Sry I didn't update when I said I would, but things have been so crazy! I have all these end of unit tests and then finals, so my updates are going to get slower for a while : ( sry. But on the bright side, chapter 8 is already 9,000 words and it still isn't done! And this chapter sets up some serious DxC bonding for chap 9, or maybe 10, I haven't decided which one to put the scene in yet. Anyways, enjoy!

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The Big Sleep

Courtney POV

I woke up early the next morning, before everyone else; they were all still sleeping in after yesterdays tiring challenge.

I had never been a morning person, but once I had got famous, I had started to set my alarm earlier and earlier, never having enough time in the day. Eventually, I had adjusted, and now I woke up at 5 am every morning like clockwork. The jetlag had thrown off my internal clock a bit, but I was still up far earlier then the rest of the campers.

It was just now dawn, so I decided to go for a walk and find some place to watch the sunrise. The beach on this side of the island faced west, so I would have to go find a spot on the other side. I grabbed my iPod, phone and a Lara bar (which, fyi, are the best bars _ever_, and their all raw!!), just incase I didn't get back for breakfast. Phones weren't allowed on the island, but considering the show, it wasn't that hard to sneak by security. And after everything that had happened, I was glad I had it; I had soooo much to tell Jen.

I walked outside and headed to the lodge to get my caffien fix for the day and fournd a coffee dispencer. I downed 2 cups of coffee, despratly needing them after waking up so early. There was no way I could never live without my coffee. I walked along in the woods, heading towards the hill, on the opposite side of the island from the cliff. As I was walking, I listened to all the birds chirping, enjoying the peacefulness of the early morning after the kayos of yesterday.

But, after about, oh, 2 minutes, the birds chirps started to get really annoying, rather then peaceful, and I popped in my headphones instead. Dashboard Confessional was much more peaceful; nature just wasn't my thing.

I walked along in the woods for a while, until off in the distance, I could just barely make out a moving figure. As it got closer, I could see it was Duncan, out on an early jog. Shirtless.

I turned up the music to my iPod, and acted like I didn't notice him, or hear him calling my name. But as I got closer to him, he ran right up to me and yanked my headphones out of my ears.

"I said, to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting here, Princess?" Duncan said right into my ear, smirking at me, and standing much to close for my liking. I took one large step back from him and glared, which, unfortunately, gave me a full view of his body. Oh why did he have to be _shirtless_?

I had to admit, Duncan had a hot body, if, you know, you could get past the green hair and all the piercings. Not that it made up for the fact that he was an arrogant pig, because it _defiantly_ didn't.

"Habit," I replied, reluctantly. "I always wake up early. Why is it that _you're_ here?" Even though I was pissed at him, it still took all of my effort to keep my eyes on his face. He was doing this on purpose, wasn't he?

"Same as you. It's not like you get the option to sleep in late in juvi." he replied, sounding almost proud of that fact.

"Well, that's just the price you pay when you _don't_ follow the rules" I turned sharply on my heals, whipping my head away from him, and flipping my hair in the process. I started stomping dramatically (thank you drama class!) away, fuming.

"Later, Princess." he called over his shoulder. "Let my know if you need help pulling that stick out of your-" but I had already put my head phones back in, the music up to loud for me to hear the rest of what he was saying. God, he was such a _jerk_!

But I wasn't going to let him get to me, I just _wasn't._ That would mean that he had won, and there was no way I was going to let that happen. So instead of thinking about what had just happened, I concentrated on my music, letting all of my other thoughts go. Because of this, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, so when I stepped into the clearing it caught me by surprise.

I was standing on top of another cliff, opposite of the one we had been on yesterday, and a bit smaller too. The view form up here was _beautiful_. On one side, you could see the water, stretched out for miles, and it was such a pretty blue color. On the other, you could look over the entire island, and even see our camp. The sunrise made the scene even more beautiful, and that was saying alot for someone who didn't like nature. It was one of those places that were just absolutely perfect.

I sat down on rock near the middle of the clearing, and looked out over the water. And I stayed there, just marveling at the beauty of it all., all my thoughts temporarly put on hold. I didn't know how long I had been sitting there when finally I remembered the reason I had left camp in the first place.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Jen's number, and she picked up before the phone even had a chance to finish one ring.

"What took you so long!" she exclaimed. Her voice so loud I had to hold the phone a foot away from my ear.

"Sorry, I called you as soon as I could!" I explained to her. I was so glad to finally be talking to her again. Even though I had seen her just a few days ago, for us that felt like forever. I was very rare for me and Jen to spend more then a few hours apart, so six weeks was going to be like an eternity.

"There are cameras all over the camp!" I continued to explain into the receiver. "And I didn't want to go off into the woods in the dark. Who knows what kind of man-eating animals could be out there!"

"Wait, hold on a second. Camp? Woods? I thought you were supposed to be in a 5 star resort on a beautiful island. What's going on?"

"What's going on is that this show has an evil and sadistic host, who will do anything for ratings." I growled, my previous anger about the lies of the show came flooding back to me.

For the next hour, I explained animatedly in vivid detail about everything that had happened so far, putting extra emphasis on how horrendous the our living condition were. Jen let out a series of gasps and giggles at my story, getting how I was feeling about all of this completely.

"Wow, that's so… ridiculous!" Jen said, agreeing with me. This whole show was crazy. "How could they make you jump off a _100 ft cliff_? And their making you use and _outhouse_ as a confessional? Seriously, what is _wrong_ with this show?" The fact the Jen was worked up about this told me that I hadn't been overreacting. Jen was almost always calm and collected, and rarely tended to show her emotions so animatedly. She was just a quite person, which worked out perfectly for the two of us, because I _always_ had a lot to say. I'm very opinionated.

"And I'm really sorry about you having to go camping," Jen continued sincerely. "I know how much you hate the outdoors."

"Please, don't remind me." Unlike me, Jen loved the camping. In fact, she went camping every year in the summer. She had even taken me with her once when we were twelve, and, well, let's just say it didn't work out too well.

-Flashback-

"How long is this trail!" I complained to Jen, who was walking with me, along with her 4 brothers. We were on a trail that wound around a lake, and onto different small islands, and through a series of bridges. It had been less then 24 hours since the camping trip had started, and I already hated it.

"You do realize we've only been walking for 5 minutes, right?" Jen questioned, raising one eyebrow at me.

"What, no way! It has been so much longer then _that_." I replied. It felt like we had already been walking for miles, and I was _so _tired!

"Actually, it's only been four minutes." Nick, Jen's only older brother said, looking at his watch. "You know, I would think you would be a lot better at this, considering you're always walking around in those four inch heels."

Nick was cute, with curl brown hair and chiseled muscles. He was sweet too and quite like Jen, in an I'm-so-deep kind of way. He'd be a great guy to date, if I didn't love him in a brotherly type way.

"Well, I-" but I stopped short when I felt something drop on my head. And it was crawling. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed, running around and waving my arms. "GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFFGETITOFF!"I yelled it at the top of my lungs, continuing to run around, looking like an idiot. Then, to make matters worse, I tripped over a root, which sent me flying right into the lake. A lake that, as I found out, happened to be full of snapping turtles.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" I screeched, as a turtle bit me in the butt, repeatedly. I flailed in the water until I finally got to my feet and sprinted to shore as fast as I could.

"Ahahahahahaha!" Frankie laughed at me and pointed, one of Jen's three younger brothers. The other two joined in as they crowded around to mock me.

We walked back to camp the way we had come, instead of finishing the hike. By the time we got back I was completely out of breath and just wanted a hot shower. I was exhausted.

_I am so getting a personal trainer when I get home._

-End of Flashback-

That was the longest camping trip of my life, but at least it made me driven to get in shape. With all the craziness of this show, I was really glad I had.

"But enough about me, what about you! How are things going with Jasper?" I asked, wanting to get the subject off camping.

"Oh, it's going great." She said, giggling. I could just hear the smile in her voice. And then I heard a deep voice talking in the background, a voice that sounded a lot like a guys.

"Oh my god, are you with him now?" I asked, excited for her. With Jen being so shy, it was hard for her to talk to guys, and even harder for her to get a boyfriend, so I was glad she had found someone she like so much.

"Yes!" she squealed, and I could tell right now she felt like she was on top of the world. "We had a date last night, and it was so great! We ended up at the park and just talked all night! It wasn't until we saw the streetlights go out that we realized how long we had been there. Right now we're back at iHop getting some breakfast." She sighed, taking some time to really take it all in. Then she got quieter, and more intense. "I really like him, Courtney. When I'm with him, I just feel so relaxed, like I can tell him anything. And he just gets me too."

"Jen, I'm so happy for you." I said sincerely, and I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face.

"Thanks." she said, putting a lot of intensity behind the word, like she really meant it. Then her tone suddenly got lighter and giddy again. "So… what about you? Is there anyone on the island you like?" she asked, and I could hear the curiosity in her voice.

"No." I said, but it came out rather cold, but it wasn't that noticeable. Once again I thought of Duncan and how much he irritated me.

"Oh, wow, Courtney, did something happen?" she asked me. Why was it that her and Bridgett were so good on picking up on those things?

"Just this punk guy who's really getting on my nerves. He's always trying to pick a fight with me. I can deal with him though." I told her, brushing it off like it was nothing, because it was. I was so going to own him time we got into it.

"Oh, okay." she said, but just like Bridgett, it seemed like she wasn't telling me something.

"There's something you aren't telling me, isn't there?" I asked, a bit pissed. What could she possibly think that she didn't want to tell me?

"Nothing important." she sounded almost happy when she said it, and I could tell she was lying. But whatever it was, I knew she wasn't going to tell me.

"So tell me, has anyone noticed I've gone missing yet?"

"Well, um…" she stammered. Oh God, this was going to be bad.

"Just tell me!" I said, bracing myself for whatever was coming next.

"Okay, so here's the thing. Some of the press saw you coming out of the party drunk, and half of the papers think you're in rehab." Jen said. Hearing this, I gasped. "And the rest of them think you've fled the country because of embarrassment form your party getting busted by the police."

"What?!" I cried. I couldn't believe it! I had only been gone for 2 days! Okay, so maybe I was practically in hiding for the entire week after my party, but still, this was just ridiculous. . One time I get drunk and suddenly they think I'm an alcoholic. And really, fleeing the country over _that_? Yes, maybe I was no longer in the USA, but that was only because the show took place in Canada, which was _entirely_ different.

"I know, it's pretty bad. But I'm sure by next week everyone will have forgotten about it." Jen told me, and she was right. But it was still going to ruin my reputation, and create even more excitement within the press when I got back. Not exactly something I was looking forward to.

"Yeah, I guess so. " I sighed, thinking of a way to try and squash the rumors, "But when I get back, we're going to kick those rumors in the ass!" I said, finally getting myself together again.

"Of course!" she replied, laughing, but I could tell her thoughts weren't really on our conversation anymore, rather on a certain someone instead.

"Well, I'll just let you get back to Jasper now." I said reluctantly. I really missed her already.

"Okay, thanks." I could tell she totaly was blushing right now. "Call me back as soon as you can!"

"I will, promise. Bye!"

"Talk to you soon!" I replied, and heard the click of the phone as she hung up.

I put away my cell, thinking more about how I was going to squash those rumors when I got back. The only was to do that was to give them something even juicier, but that worked in my favorite, rather then hurting my reputation as Ms. Goody-two-shoes. I churned around all the possibilities in my head, but wasn't coming up with anything.

_Just let it go, Courtney. There's nothing you can do about it right now. _I took a couple of yoga style breaths, letting go of my fears. I looked out over the view for a while longer, and then put my headphones back in, getting up off the rock to leave.

And if I was paying attention, just maybe I might have seen the tiny scull carve on the side of the tree I walked past. And just maybe I would have realized who had been there, and I wouldn't have come back. But of course, I didn't see it, and with how beautiful the view was, I did go back eventually. And that is why for once in my life, I started truly living.

* * *

"Come on Courtney, just try it!" Bridgett called form the water, floating out on her surf board. When I had gotten back to camp, breakfast was long over, and everyone was out at the beach. The wind was strong today, so there were some decent sized waves. And of course, this meant Bridgett was on her surf board, and now she was trying to convince me to join her. Which as far as I was concerned, was not going to happen.

"Sorry, I just had a power bar," I lied to her, but it didn't sound very convincing. "and your not supposed to go in the water 45 minutes after you eat!" No way was I getting in that water. What if some of the sharks form our last challenge came along? And a shark bite was way worse then one from a snapping turtle.

"I don't blame you, girl. I wouldn't want to get out there and try it either." Lashawna said to me, looking out at the waves and making a face. And that's right when Duncan sauntered up to me.

"What's the matter, princess? To afraid to get your hair wet?" he asked me, another one of his agitating smirks on his face. That was so not why! I was not as bad as Heather, although now that he mentioned it I had just used my flat iron on it…

"Of course not!" I quipped back at him. It had only been 2 seconds since he walked up and he had already infuriated me. "I'd just rather not have a shark take a chunk out of me, thankyouverymuch."

"Sure you are."

"If all you came over here to do was mock me, you've done it, so can you just leave?" I asked, not wanting to have to deal with him at the moment. I had bigger problems to solve, like how to stop those rehab rumors from spreading.

"Actually, I was just about to go swimming, wanna join me?" he asked, but he didn't wait for a response. Instead, he just picked my up and threw me over his shoulder, and started walking towards the water.

"Put me down you jerk!" I screeched, kicking and squirming in a useless attempt to get off of his back, but he wasn't listening to me. "I said, PUT ME DOWN!"

"Not gonna happen." I told me, still smiling. What an _asshole_.

"YOU PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW YOU ARROGANT JER-" but I didn't get to finish my ranting because we had already gotten to the end of the dock, and he was jumping in, with me still on his shoulder.

Even thought the day was so hot the water was _freezing_. The water consumed me immediately when I hit it, and I stated flailing trying to figure out which way was up. After squirming around for a few seconds I found the sun shining through the water and started swimming upward, only to see Duncan doing the same. He saw me and paused to grin at me in that cocky way of his, only for a second, then he started swimming back up to the surface, with me right behind him. As soon as I broke the surface, I didn't waste as second to start yelling at him.

"What the HELL!? I could have DIED, you JERK!"I yelled at him, and then splashed a large amount of water in his face.

"Well, unfortunately, you still look pretty alive to me." He said, splashing me right back, then went swimming back to shore as fast as he could before I could splash him again. Bridgett, who had seen the whole thing, was still on her surf board and came paddling over. She offered me and hand, pulling me up on her board with her.

"Thanks." I said, only it was a bit angry since I was still worked up about Duncan. "Do you think they would catch me if I stabbed Duncan to death, and buried his body on the island one night?"

"Probably, but I don't think they would chare you for anything, since it'd be a public service to everyone." she said, and we both cracked up laughing.

"So, now that your already wet, do you want to learn how to surf?"

"Sure, why not?" I said, smiling at her. Who knows, maybe surfing could turn out to be really fun. But, I didn't get the chance that day to find out, because right after I had agreed to try, Chef Hatched came over the loud speaker tell everyone it was time for lunch.

"Well maybe next time."

"Of course!" I was actually feeling a bit excited to try it now, for some odd reason.

The two of us started paddling back to shore on her board, which was a bit difficult with all the waves coming our way. Before heading over to the Lodge, we stopped back by the cabin so I could dry off and get a dry cover up to put over me swimsuit, since Duncan had soaked my last one ( I couldn't believed he had ruined my good Coach cover up! Thank god I had brought my Juicy along too).

We walked into the lodge and got in line for food, right behind Lashawna. Chef scooped up our food and dropped it onto our plates. This time it had a bone sticking out of it, right in the center. Lashawna made a face, and Bridgett looked a bit sick, her face going pale. I, on the other hand just smiled at him, not wanting to get on his bad side.

"I think I'll pass today." Bridgett told Chef when it was her turn to get food.

"What's wrong with my meal!?" Chef yelled at her.

"N-nothing, I'm just not that hungry today." she replied stamered, and the three of us turned to take our seats.

"Hey, what was that wholes smile thing about?" Lashawna asked, giving me a funny look. "_Please _tell me you don't actually like this stuff."

"Of course not!" I yell-whispered, so Chef wouldn't hear me. "I'd just rather not get a butcher's knife thrown at my head."

"Yeah, he really it crazy like that." Bridgett said, as we all sat down at the table, convesation booming like it aways did when you stuck a big group of teens together.

"Hey, do you guys want to start a game of capture the flag?" Owen asked all of us, waling over from the other table.

"Sure!" I volunteered right away. On the set of Camp Rock (the movie I had trained as a CIT for), one of the scenes was a game of capture the flag, and we all had a blast doing it. After that, whenever we had enough free time, we would start up a game, since the set was at an actually summer camp. It was always fun and I had really gotten good at it. Maybe playing a game I was actually good at would show the team how strong I could be.

"Sounds fun, I'm in." Bridgett told him.

"Totaly dude!" Geoff said.

"I'm in!" said a way to enthusiastic Tyler.

"What the hell." replied Duncan, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I might as well, I you all are doing it." said Lashawna reluctantly. This was going to be so much fun!

* * *

"So, does anyone want to nominate someone for team captain?" Trent asked, smiling at everyone. However, I noticed hid gaze paused a little longer on Gwen then the rest of us. Lunch was over and now we were out in the woods behind the cabins, ready to play a game of capture the flag.

_Hmmm, the might make a cute couple _I thought, but then immediately took it back. They were to opposite to ever work out.

"Well I nominate Courtney." DJ said, smiling at me when I looked over at him.

"I second that." Bridgett said.

"Okay, so we have one captain, who's the other gonna be?" Owen asked, looking around at all of us.

"I think it should be Duncan!" Izzy cried. "Cuz he's all scary and hard core and tough and stuff." She started bouncing up and down, clearly getting over excited about the game. She seemed to be doing that a lot.

"I can live with that." Gwen piped in. As soon as the captains were confirmed, I saw Tyler's face fall, disappointed that he hadn't been chosen as a captain.

"Okay, so we've got our captains, time to pick teams!" Trent said to Duncan and me. Okay, this was it, my big chance to get back at him, and he was so going down. I was suddenly really glad the Camp Rock cast had taken such a liking to this game.

"Ladies first." Duncan said to me, yet again. I was surprised, I would have thought he'd be so eager to win against me that he'd insist on going first. This guy was just confusing me more and more all the time; it was really getting on my nerves.

"DJ" I said, and he walked over to me, happy to be chosen first.

"Geoff." Duncan picked.

"All right!" Geoff said, giving a little fist pump before walking over to Duncan's team.

"Bridgett." I said, and smiled as she walked over.

"Eva"

"Trent"

"Gwen."

"Lashawna."

"Izzy."

"Noah."

"Justin." Thank god Duncan had picked him, because I really didn't want someone so arrogant on my team.

"Katie."

"Tyler." He walked over to Duncan's team with his head low, sad to have been chosen so late.

"Codey."

"Owen."

"Sadie."

"Yes!" Sadie cried, and ran over to hug Katie, happy to be on the same team as her.

"Heather."

"Beth."

"Harold."

"Aw man." Harold complained, not at all pleased with being picked last.

"Okay, that's it." Trent announced, once again taking control of the game. "Does everyone know how to play?"

"Umm, wait, what are we playing again, Taylor?" Lindsey asked Trent. Wow, not to be mean but what an airhead.

"Capture the flag, and it's really simple to learn." Trent replied.

"So here's how it works. Basically the forest will be split up into 2 sides, one for each team." Owen told us, cutting in for Trent. "There will be a flag placed somewhere on each teams side, an your goal is to get the other teams flag. If you are on the other team's side of the forest, you can get tagged and have to go to jail If you are tagged when you have the flag, you have to put it back where you found it, and you go to jail. You can hide your flag anywhere, and if your team gets the other's flag across to their side, they win the game. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think we all get the rules already. So are we going to play or what?" Heather said, looking like she just wanted to get this whole thing over with.

"All that's left is to go and hide our flags." Bridgett piped in.

"I'll take the west side of the forest, and you can take the east, alright Princess?" Duncan said, acting all smug like he thought we didn't have a chance at winning.

"Fine by me, I'll crush you either way." I quipped back at him, giving him a smirk of my own. No way was I going to let him get to me, I totally owned this game.

"Damn, preppy girl's got some attitude." said Lashawna, and by the way she was smiling I could tell it had been a complement.

"Come on guys lets play!" Owen said, eager to get the game started. And he started bounced, just like Izzy.

"Wait, we can't yet!" Izzy cried, throwing up her hands to exaggerate her point. "We have to pick out team names! Ours should be something cool, like creeping tiger, OOOOOOOH, or The Striking Cobras!"

"I'm cool with that." Geoff replied, always going with the flow. Everyone else on their team nodded their heads in agreement, except for Heather, who just stood there looking bored.

"Well sticking with the animal theme, how about we be The Fluffy Bunnies?" DJ asked, getting a few strange looks from the campers.

"Oh, yeah, I love it!" Katie cried, grinned at DJ.

"Oh my god, you do? So do I!" exclaimed Sadie, and the two girls began hugging and squealing.

"Yeah, because bunnies are just so tough." Noah said, sarcastically.

"Umm, as great as that sounds guys," Bridgett chimed in, "how about we do something fiercer, like The Killer Sharks?"

"Okay, that's cool with me too." DJ agreed, a bit depressed about his team not liking his name.

"Come on already, lets get to the game!" Owen pushed. And with that, we all when off to our team's sides to hide our flags. After we had found a decent hiding place, I split our team up into guards, who would stay spread out on our side, and runners, who would attempt to capture the flag.

Once that was settled, Bridgett and I when to go meet Duncan and one of his team mates out on the center of the playing grounds, to start the game. The boarder was marked by a small field, behind the Main Lodge, and it was neutral territory, so no one could be tagged here.

"Ready to loose, Princess?"Duncan asked, walking up with Geoff behind him.

"Bring it on Ogre, bring it on." I said, getting right up in his face, but he just kept the smug expression, not at all shaken. Well, two could play at that game.

"All right, all right, break it up you two. Are we all ready to start?" Geoff cut in, before our conversation had a chance to get ugly.

"Lets do this." I said, still looking at Duncan, my expression mimicking his. And then Bridgett blew the whistle, signaling the start of the game.

_It's game time, baby, and look out, because this is _war.

* * *

_Oh my god, what am I going to do?! _It was only an hour into the game and I had already let the other team get a hold of the flag. Being the team captain, I had assigned guarding the flag to myself, since I was an expert on the game, but Owen had stolen it! He and Geoff tag teamed me, so when Geoff came running up I didn't see Owen sneak over and grab the flag, so I went and tagged the wrong person. But it was still okay; the playing field was huge and Owen wasn't such a fast runner. If I could just spread the word that our flag was stolen we could still get it back.

"Bridgett!" I called, spotting her coming out of the woods, circling her assigned post. She whipped her head up and came jogging over,

"What's up Courtney?" she asked, as I pulled her underneath a bush so that Geoff or anyone else form the other team wouldn't hear us. I didn't want them to pick up on the fact that our flag was already gone, or our plan to get it back.

"I'm so screwed!" I said, whisper-yelling to her, so as not to be heard. "Owen got the flag, and he could be anywhere! We can't let him win, I am not loosing another challenge, especially to Duncan, even its not part of the game. We need to come up with a plan," but then I noticed she wasn't listening to me, rather gazing over as Geoff, who winked at her, sending Bridgett blushing. "one that can work to get our flag back! Oh and by the way I'm pregnant with Geoff's baby."

"What?!" Bridgett, said finally snapping out of it. Well, at least now I knew how to get her attention.

"Did you listen to anything I was saying?" I asked, giving her a questioning look.

"Our flags stolen, and we need a plan, I got it." she said, her blush deepening after being caught staring at Geoff.

"I need you help to spread the word, okay? You can take the north side, and I'll take the south."

"Right, I'm on it."

"Great, then let's go!" And with that, we both sprung up, ready to go and get our damn flag back!

* * *

Owen POV

_Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall. _I had been running through the forest for the past 5 minutes and boy was I tired. And hungry too. But I couldn't stop, not yet. I had gotten the flag, with the help of Geoff, and now I was gonna win this for my team. I was going to be… Ohh, do I smell brownies?

_No! you can't stop, we have to win this! _I knew I should keep going, but those brownies just smelled so good! _Maybe just a quick stop wouldn't hurt…_

I followed the smell through the forest, and popped out right near our cabins. I followed it longer and found out it was coming from the girl's side of the other teams cabin.

I searched around, but I couldn't find where the smell was coming from. I was about to give up, but then I found it. Underneath a loose floorboard was a stash of junk food someone must have brought with them. There were chips, and candy and cookies and chocolate and everything else a guy could wish for. And there, right on the top, were the delicious looking brownies I had smelled. Man, did I wish I had thought to do this.

_Okay, I'll just take a few, and then leave. No one will ever know I was here. _First, I ripped open the chips and crammed a handful into my mouth. Mmmmmmmm. They were just so good! Maybe I would just have a brownie too, and maybe a few sour patch kids, and a little bar of chocolate couldn't hurt either, right?

* * *

DJ POV

"I'm gonna get you animal boy!" Duncan called out from behind me. I had been one of the people assigned to capture the other team's flag, and I had managed to do it too. All that was left was to get back over to our side. The only problem was, Duncan was chasing me, and he was gaining on me to. But I just had to hold out for a little longer till I crossed the barrier, and win the game for everyone.

I was running as fast as I could, trying not to get distracted by all the cute little animals in the forest, like that bird over there, and that cute baby dear that I had just scared off.

_Come on DJ, just focus, you can do this man!_

I pushed myself as hard as I could, but I could hear Duncan following close behind me, gaining on me every second.

"Hey, where did you learn to run like that, yo?" I asked him. Even though we were on opposite teams, it was still just a game, for fun. Besides, Duncan and I were friends.

"Running from the cops really gives you a motive to practice it." Duncan said, and I was surprised by how close his voice was to me, so I kicked it up another notch, surprised I could even go this fast.

The forest when flying by me, and I after a while I realized that I had no idea where I was going. I couldn't win if I didn't know where our side was! I head Duncan let out a loud laugh behind me; he had probably realized how lost I was, which meant I was _really_ of coarse.

_Aw man!_

* * *

Bridgett POV

So far, I had found Lashawna, Katie and Sadie, and Cody. I had them all on the lookout for Owen, and I was trying to find everyone else to tell them to do the same. I was getting worried, because I was already pretty close to the boarder, and Owen wasn't that slow. At least I would get to see Geoff happy if we lost, but that wasn't going to stop me from trying to win this, I wanted the win just as much as Courtney did. Besides, I didn't want to have to let Courtney go through the torment of loosing to Duncan, even if they were perfect for each other. I know that neither of them saw it yet, but they were just what the other needed. Someone who could show the other up once and a while, and keep things interesting. Even if they claimed to hate each other, I think the secretly liked all that bickering.

My stomach started growling all of a sudden, like it had been for the past hour. I had skipped lunch today, and I was starving. See, I was a vegetarian, and I knew Chef dished probably had some kind of meat in his meals. But it wasn't like I was going to starve myself, and Chef didn't look like he was going to make any special exceptions for me. Seeing that bone sticking our of Courtney's meal was just to much for me, but now that I hadn't eaten I was absolutely starving.

_Well, I'm almost to the cabin's anyways, maybe I'll just make a quick stop for some of those chips I brought with me._ It was times like these when I was glad I was a total junk food addict.

And that's when I heard it. I stopped in my tracks when I heard a rustling coming from the cabin. As I got closer, I heard munching to. A munching that sounded a lot like chips, and it was coming from my cabin.

_Someone got into my food stash!_ I couldn't believe someone had the nerve to go and steal my food! I raced up the cabin steps and slammed open the door.

And that's where I found Owen, scarfing down all my food like there was no tomorrow. And he had the flag too. As soon as he saw me he stopped dead, a cookie halfway to his mouth.

"Hi, Bridgett. This isn't your food, is it? Hehe ." he said, laughing nervously, his word muffled from all the food in his mouth. I vowed that I was going to get that flag from him if it was the last thing I did. What right did he have to go through and steal my stuff? If he would have just asked I would have given him some. I mean, I had the most sympathy out of everyone when it came to eating Chefs meals.

I lunged after him, sprinting as fast as I could. All I had to do was tag him and he would go to jail along with Geoff. But as soon as I did he jumped out the window (surprised he could even fit through it) , and started sprinting to the boarder.

_Just one tag, you can do this Bridgett. Owen is going down._

* * *

Duncan POV

"A little lost DJ?" I called out to him. We had been running around in circles for the past ten minutes, and I was gaining on him all the time. He only needed to trip once, and then he was mine. Courtney was going to be so pissed when she lost to me, I could just picture her face now.

"Maybe a little, but you still can't catch me!" DJ called back. I had to give it to the guy; he was a really great runner, just not as good as me. We had passed almost all of my teammates, all of them had tried to catch DJ, but none of them could keep up. Well, none of them that had actually tried anyway. Heather didn't care enough to risk breaking a heel, and Justin was too busy staring at his refection in the lake. It was a bit scary how much that guy loved himself. Even I wasn't that arrogant. It's really too bad DJ was on Courtney's team, he would have been great on mine. But even with two useless teammates, I was still going to win.

We dodged over and under logs and braches, never slowing down. DJ started to get lucky, and was now heading closer to the boarder, although he probably didn't know it with how lost he had gotten himself. If I was going to make my move, it had to be now. This was it, I was either going to loose the game right now or take the victory.

_Just a little bit farther, and we can win. Just think of the look on Courtney's face when we rub it in that we won._

* * *

Courtney POV

The whistle blew again, signaling the game was over, only I didn't know who has won. All I could do was hope that DJ, Trent, or Beth had gotten the flag, and that Owen had never made it past the boarder line. Everyone headed towards the field to find out who had won the game.

_Oh please let us have won. I can't loose to that delinquent! _I broke through the trees and walked into the field, only to find Owen, waving around a flag above his head and dancing. DJ was over next to Duncan, a flag also in his hand, only he had his head down, like he had been caught. Everyone on Duncan's team was smiling, and high fiving one another. Duncan however, wasn't as outgoing in showing his happiness over winning the challenge, and was much more laid back about the win, only making him more infuriating.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I yelled, my face turning bright red in rage. I couldn't believe it. I had lost to a freaking JUVINIAL DELINQUENT! How could this have happened? I was COURTENY ADDISSON for crying out loud. I DIDN'T LOOSE! EVER!

This was the second time I had lost since coming to the island, and quite honestly I was starting to think it was cursed. I mean, I lost to Duncan. DUNCAN!

"Sorry Courtney. I just saw this little bunny that was so cute, then I lost focus and tripped over a…" but I wasn't paying attention to whatever DJ was saying, because I was to far gone in my rage, glaring insanely at Duncan.

"Upset that you lost to me, Princess?" asked Duncan. Did he have to be so damn cocky about this?!?! JERK!

"I, I, YOU- YOU LITTLE-" but he cut me off. He had the nerve to actually CUT ME OFF! YOU DON'T CUT COURNTNEY ADDISON OFF!

"Now, now, don't say something you're going to regret. Just admit that I'm better at capture the flag then you and get it over with already." he told me, and he winked. Actually WINKED! I was way past enraged by now and bordering on hysterics.

"I want a REMATCH!" I yelled at him, stomping my foot on the ground. There was no way I was going to let him get away with this without a fight. I was going to get him back even if it killed me!

"Whoa, did she just stomp her foot? I thought girls only did that on movies." Geoff whispered to DJ.

"I HEARD THAT!" I yelled at them, which immediately shut them up.

"Okay, just name the time and place. I can still beat you at any game you wanna play." Duncan replied, acting all cocky and sure of himself.

"I'd like to see you-" but once again, I got cut off.

"Dinner, NOW!" Chef announced over the loud speaker, and everyone started heading to the Lodge.

"We _will_ have a rematch." I sneered at him.

"Like I said, just name a time and place." Then he smirked at me, and winked once again, sauntering off towards the lodge.

Oh, he was going _down._

* * *

**A/N: and that's it! Review please! They motivate me to update faster, cuz then I noe people r reading my story and actually like it.**


	8. The Big Sleep

**A/N: Hey! Okay, so here's the thing. Next week, I have finals, then 2 days after I leave for film camp, come back for two days, then I'm gone the rest of the summer. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that my updates r going to be a lot slower over the next couple mothers :- ( sry. I either need to a) get wifi (still working on my parents to let me get that one) or b) figure out where the heck I can download the tdi episodes so I **_**don't**_** end up with a crapload of viruses on my computer, which is what has been happening latly. Also, I'm gonna b writing screeneplays this summer 2 film when I get back, so fanfic this summer isn't on my top priority list, but I promise I'll try my hardest to update!!! Anyways, this is a rly long a/n, so I'll get let you read the story now and rant at then end. Lol.**

**OH, and just one more thing(promise!) thanks to a request by Saara-chan, the next chap (dodge brawl) is almost all Dunca pov (except for the part where he falls asleep.)!!! Ask and you shall recieve! anyways, i'll let you read the chap now. hehe.**

The Big Sleep

Courtney POV

That night I couldn't get to sleep, my thought kept wandering back to loosing the game to Duncan. I tossed and turned, my mind just too busy. I had looked like a fool our there, and I needed to get him back, not willing to let him get the better of me (he was a convict for crying out loud!).

After the loss, I realized I may have over reacted just a _teeny_ bit. At dinner, I tried to make up for it, even apologizing to Geoff and DJ for snipping at them. Everyone was totally understanding, and didn't hold it against me. I guess the conflict between me and Duncan was more evident than I thought.

Even with less then three hours of sleep, I still woke up at five exactly. I was really starting to regret ever setting my alarm all those years, but it's not like I'm going to get in the tabloids by just sleeping the day away! I debated taking my cell with me to call Jen, weighing the pros and cons (pros, I would get to talk to Jen, cons, I could get kicked off the island, become a laughing stock across the nation, and therefore make no progress with my current money situation. Guess which one I chose?). I could easily picture Chris deciding to torment everyone by waking them all up ridiculously early, or at least early to them- I didn't see why they all needed to sleep so much, there was too much to do in the day!-, because he was just sadistic like that. And then I would get caught, sending my life back into the catastrophic downward spiral, once again. You really know your life is messed up when you last hope is winning a crazy ratings-hungry reality TV show with a host whose job is to make you life a living hell. Fame is a bitch.

I threw on a swimsuit under my cloths, incase I found a good swim spot besides our litter-ridden beach. With just a touch of make-up and a ponytail in my hair I was ready to go, deciding I could get ready properly when I got back. After all, everyone here was to lazy to get out of bed this early in the morning. At least, almost everyone.

_Oh please don't let me run in to Duncan again. I'm not ready to deal with him yet._

I stopped by the Main Lodge, in desperate need of some coffee. Back in LA, I lived off of Stabucks, so I was relieved when I came to camp and found out that there was a coffee dispenser in the lodge, open to the use of the campers. I knew that there was a better coffee place around here somewhere, because I had seen Chris walking around with brand name cups. If fact, now that I thought about it, there had to be a whole other set of living spaces on the island for the crew.

_They have to be living somewhere good if we never see them every off day. No wonder we had such crappy living spaces, they had saved all the good stuff for themselves! _I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of this earlier. What cheapskates! But, there was nothing I could do about it.

_Or is there… _I thought, coming up with a plan. Maybe Bridgett and I could go snooping around camp later.

I put the ground coffee beans in the coffee dispenser (Chef wasn't even up yet to have done that) and started brewing the coffee. After a few minutes I could smell the it's sweet smell, and inhaled deeply.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh" I sighed, finally getting my coffee fix. Me going 2 whole days without a cup of coffee was like cutting off my air supply. It was simply a necessity of survival. And no, I was _not _addicted to coffee; I just couldn't go a day without it. The two were entirely different.

Once the coffee had finished brewing, I poured myself a cup, adding some diary-free creamer, and some of the Stevie I had brought with me (this natural sweeten Jen got me after throwing a hissy fit about how equal kills you brains cells and I was going to die. For such a quite person she can be really overdramatic sometimes). I took a big gulp, needing the caffeine boost. It defiantly wasn't Starbucks, but I could live with it. I put a bit more Stevia in to drown out the taste; I loved things overly sweet.

I downed a couple cups of coffee, taking one to go, and then walked outside, deciding to explore the island more. This time, I went on a trail that looked like it lead around the lake. I knew I couldn't walk the whole thing, but I could always turn around and come back the same way. I tried listening to the birds again, for about, oh two seconds maybe, and then put my headphones. It wasn't like I didn't think nature was beautiful, because it was, I'd just rather see the sunset behind a skyline then on the ocean. Plus, there was the whole getting animal crap stuck to your Jimmy Chu wedges thing, definitely not a turn on. It was almost impossible to look good here; dirt and sweat wasn't flattering on anyone, believe me.

After I got about I half an hour out, I stopped on another small beach by the lake, taking off my cloths to reveal my swimsuit. I laid out on the sand, working on my sun tan. I was perfectly still, letting my body soak up the rays. To anyone that passed by, I would have looked completely Zen; however I was really anything but. My mind was churning over a way to get Duncan back, and regain my statues as a leader. I had to make him loose so badly at something he would be humiliated, but what? I had already thought I would have crushed him in capture the flag, so what was left?

I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't hear the feet pounding on the trail behind me, until he let out a long an low whistle.

"Like the bikini, Princess." said Duncan, my whole body stiffening from the sound of his voice. I opened one eye to peek at him, and saw that to my delight he continued jogging on. But honestly I think the fact that he _didn't_ stop just irked me even more then if he had. Did he not even care that he had enraged me to the point where I lost my mind?

_Of course he doesn't, it's Duncan. _

As for the bikini comment, that was kind of my fault. I had bought a tankini for the show, (which I had worn up on the cliff, and thank god I did. If I had been in anything less the tidal wave Owen made would have washed it away. Not exactly something you want broadcasted across the country.) thinking that Courtney Mahn wouldn't wear something so risqué like, say, the bright red bikini I was currently in.

After my encounter with Duncan, I just couldn't sit still anymore (although that could have been from the 5 cups of coffee this morning). I got up off the beach and put my cloths back on, going in the opposite directing I had seen Duncan going. I ran and ran until I couldn't go any faster, just needing to get this anger from him out of my system. But I didn't get very far, because back at the camp, a bull horn sounded.

_Oh crap. _I thought. Chris must have decided to wake everyone up early after all, which meant I didn't have very long to get back to camp. I couldn't be seen on television looking like this! Running had made me sweat, ruining my makeup, and I was in desperate need of a shower, with sand in places where it should _defiantly not_ be.

I pulled my cloths back on ran back to camp as fast as I could, my panicked state temporarily taking my rage away. I grabbed my shower bag sprinted over to the bathrooms, taking the fastest shower of my teenage life. Although the fact that the water was _ice cold_ helped too, everyone else having already used up the hot water. I put my hairdryer on it's highest setting, put on my make up as best I could, leaving me with just enough time to straighten my hair. When I looked at the finish product, I had to admit, I was pretty hot for only having 15 minutes to get ready (normally I took at least an hour. Perfection takes work.).

I walked out of the bathrooms and into the line the other campers had formed out in front of the cabins. Everyone was still yawning from waking up so early, but I on the other had was wide awake, just one of the many benefits of coffee.

"Hey, girl, where have you been all morning?" Lashawna leaned over and asked me, while we were still waiting for an explanation from Chris as to why he woke us up.

"Oh, I was just out for an early morning jog." I replied, leaving out the part about seeing Duncan.

"You woke up earlier then this? That's crazy! How the hell can you be so perky?"

"Oh, just a bit of coffee." No need to tell her just how much coffee it had taken.

The camera crew was setting up thier equipment, and even they looke exhasted. They finally finished adjusting thier tripods and extending thier boom poles, giving Chris the okay to start explaining the challenge.

"Morning! Hope you slept well." Chris said to all of us, walking into the frame. Did he have to rub it in? Oh wait, that's right, it was Chris, of course he did. I suddenly got the erg to rip his overly hair gelled head off.

"Hi Chris! You look really buff in those shorts." Heather told him, smiling brightly and being a suck up. She flipped her hair back and bounced on her heels, as if she didn't have a care in the world. She must have found the coffeemaker too.

"I know" Chris replied, winking at her. He loved the attention so much he didn't even care that it was fake. "Okay, I hope you all ready, because your next challenge begins in exactly one minute!" he tapped his watch, counting the seconds we had left.

"Oh excuse me. I don't know it that's enough time to eat breakfast." Owen said to Chris, worried at the thought of missing a meal. I honestly didn't get how he could look forward to that gruel Chef claimed was food. But it was Owen, and as I was learning he could eat anything. Literally. I think the guy would probably eat mud if he had to.

"Oh, you'll get breakfast Owen…" Chris told him, an evil looking smile creeping its way onto his face. Oh, this could not be good. "right after you complete your twenty kilometer run around the lake!" You've got to be kidding me. I can't run in heals! And 20 kilometers?!? This guy seriously wanted to kill us. And there was no time to change either, because we only had thirty seconds until the challenge started, and there was no way I was wasting any time changing. I had been a looser enough on this island to last me a lifetime. So much that shower.

_Wait a minute. Something isn't right here. Why would Chris wake us up so early just for a 20 k run?_ True, Chris was the type to do something like that, but not without a good reason. There was a method to his madness, believe it or not. He had to be planning something else.

"Oh so you've got a sense of humor now. Well you know what I think would be funny-" Eva started, walking forward towards Chris, her fist drawn back for a punch. Thankfully before she could reach him, Geoff and Duncan came up and restrained her from moving any closer to him. Man this girl had a temper. I'm so glad I never get angry like that.

"Eva, try to control your temper!" I leaned over to whisper to her. We didn't need another to loose another member of our team, just because she couldn't keep her mouth shut at the right time.

"Your enjoying this aren't you?" Eva yelled at Chris, and I knew his answer before he said it.

"A little." Chris smirked at her, and let out a laugh, only making Eva angrier. She made another lunge at Chris, but Geoff and Duncan were able to hold her, making it look easy. Geoff was pry just showing off for Bridgett, and Duncan, well I don't think I need to explain that one.

"30 more seconds!" Chris exclaimed, pointing to his watch to emphasize his point. I put my iPod in my ears, which was still in my back pocket, using Genius to make an up beat playlist to keep me motivated. If I was going to have to run _20 freaking kilometers, _I needed something to keep me moving.

A few people started to stretch, while others got down in starting position, until finally our time was up.

"All right campers. Three, two, one… go!" Chris counted off. Most people took off at a sprint, but people like Heather, Harold, and Gwen all lagged behind at a walk. I was one of the people sprinting in the very front, but I wasn't paying much attention to that. I was too focused on just running, and winning this thing. Granted, I wasn't all out sprinting, because I needed to pace myself, and we were only as fast as our slowest member anyways. Plus, something still seemed really funny about this challenge, like I had said before. Besides waking up early, a run around the lake (even if it was more of a marathon) wasn't really much of a challenge after the cliff dive and hot tube one. We just didn't need to work on a team for this one, which meant there was not much conflict. That would make this a boring show, and Chris was all about ratings.

I was still running as the water from the trail splashed my pants. The path was really muddy and wet, but I was trying hard not to think about it.

_There goes my Jimmy Choo's_

With the pace I was at, before I knew it I was already in the lead, cruising ahead of everyone else along with Duncan and DJ. I was keeping up easily with the two of them, none of us the clear leader.

Determine as I was for our team to win, I also wanted to beat Duncan. I started speeding up, passing him slowly, but it was enough.

He glanced over at me and smirked, starting to speed up too, so he was now passing me. This only made me speed up more, and seeing this Duncan chucked.

"Do you really want to get into this with me? Because your only going to loose again, Princess." he said.

"In your dreams Duncan!" Dispite the anger I had felt towards him earlier this morning, it came off rather playful. I even cracked a small smile, enjoying the adrenaline rush I got from competing with him.

"You know you are." he replied, winking at me. "Although you're usually not this fully clothed." He looked me up and down, nodding his head in approval. Oh, he did _not_ just do that! Now I was furious at him. Did he always have to ruin my happy mood? I really had the motivation to crush him now.

"See you at the finish line!" DJ called over his shoulder from up ahead, taking us both by surprise. He must have snuck past us while we were talking. Duncan and I exchanged shocked glances, and then started running faster to catch up.

It was a close race, the three of us all taking turns being in the lead. We weaved through the forest, kilometers ahead of the competition. Once we got away from the lake, and back on the path to camp, the forest became thicker and harder to navigate. I was currently in the lead, but Duncan and DJ were so close behind me that it could easily change at any moment. I either needed to run faster, or get a plan. And considering my feet were already killing me from these wedges (yes, I was keeping up with the boys in wedged, so I was totally kicking their asses when you factor in the extra effort it required to keep up.) I was going to go with the later.

I figure I could somehow use the denseness of the forest to my advantage. So the next branch I passed, instead of ducking under it, I pulled it back and released, so it would fly straight into Duncan's face, since he was right behind me. Only, instead of smacking him, he ducked, causing it to whip DJ in the face instead.

"Owww!" DJ cried, as he toppled over.

"Sorry DJ!" I yelled back at him, too determined to beat Duncan to stop and help him. I broke through the trees, now neck and neck with Duncan, having lost my lead, but I couldn't let him win this, I just couldn't! I pushed myself even harder, drawing back my rage at him and putting it into my running. I slowly inched passed him, until finally we flew through the doorway to the Lodge, me just a foot in front of him.

"Yes, I won! " I cried, throwing my hands up in the air and dancing around a bit. I felt so ecstatic right now nothing could bring me down, and the smile on my face seemed to feel as if it was permanently etched there; I was just that happy about the win. All of this excitement had me full of energy, and I felt like the energizer bunny, like I could just keep going and going and going, despite my lack of sleep.

DJ came jogging in the room, no longer running since there was no need; he had already lost the race.

"Hey, nice job Courtney. Conrad's ." DJ told me, and gave me a high five. The happy energy was radiating off of my so strongly that he could immediately tell I had won.

"Thanks! And I'm really sorry about smacking you in the face with that branch." I told him, truly meaning it. "It wasn't meant to hit _you_." I shot a glare over at Duncan, but like always he seemed completely unfazed.

"Hey, don't get to full of yourself, sweetheart. We still have that rematch." Duncan said to me. I'm sure it was meant to annoy me, but in fact it had just the opposite effect, making me even happier that I was going to beat him again. Because I _was_ going to win.

"I can't wait!" This caught him by surprise and I couldn't blame him, I was so far gone on cloud nine that everything seemed pleasant in my eyes at the moment. I did another little dance around the room before collapsing at one of the tables, and when I did, it was like all of my energy had instantly drained out of me.

I hadn't realized how tired I felt until I sat down. I had a major headache and my body was aching all over. To make things worse, the coffee had worn of. After workout pains + coffee crash = major sleepiness.

_I'll be fine with a little more coffee…_ I thought, looking over at the coffee dispenser, or at least the spot where it should have been. In it's place was an out of order sign.

Okay, something just didn't seem right here. The coffee dispenser was old, but it was still in perfect working order. It could have been broken, but I doubt it.

_Maybe Heather stole it to use all for herself?_ No, that wasn't right either, because the only other outlets were in the bathrooms and I didn't think she was going to use it in there.

_Maybe… _but I couldn't finish the thought, I was too exhausted to think straight.

Since the three of us had come in so far ahead of everyone else, we had plenty of time before they got back, and we found out who won the challenge. I decided to use the time to take my second shower of the day (since Chris had so rudely ruined the point of my first one) and change into some clean cloths.

I got into the shower and relaxed in the warm water. But for some reason I just couldn't stopping thinking about that coffeemaker. Something was up with this challenge, I just didn't know what.

I got back to the Lodge, and almost everyone was already back, except for a few people. The campers that were here were all slouched over on the tables, exhausted from the run. It was dead silent except for the sound of Chris filing his nails (this guy cared way too much about his appearance, and coming from me that said a lot), and the clatter of the crews tripods as they rolled across the floor. I walked over to one of the tables, slouching down across form DJ and Duncan, the three of us exchanging quick smiles, remembering the fun of our race earlier. My personal trainer had done a _really_ good job on me. Then, all of a sudden, the door to the lodge came flying open.

"Clear a table, stat!" Owen said, bursting into the room, with an unconscious Noah over his shoulder and threw him down on the table at the back of the room.

"Oh, we made it." Lashawna crawled in after him, out of breath. Owen was now attempting to do CPR on Noah, and I was about to come over and help him, until Harold came in, and he was last.

"What took you so long? We just lost the challenge!" I snipped at him, my irritation giving me back a bit of energy. What was he thinking! He just cost us the challenge, and I was _not_ loosing again.

Harold strained for breath and clutched his chest as if he was having a heart attack.

"Hey, wait a minute," Gwen said, gathered around Noah like the rest of their team. "If they lost, that means we won the challenge!" Wow, what a genius. What was her IQ, 4?

Everyone on the Screaming Gophers threw up their hands, cheering and hollering in victory, even Noah. So much for being passed out, what a faker.

"Whoa, hold your horses there guys,that wasn't the challenge!" Chris told up, smiling at us like he thought it was funny.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Gwen asked, totally confused.

_I knew it! I just knew there was something weird about this challenge! Now Chris was going to make us do something awful, after making us run 20 fricking kilometers, just to make us suffer!_

"Who's hungry?" Chris asked, pulling back a giant curtain (where had that come form anyways? Wow I must have been really tired not to notice it before now.) to reveal the most delicious array of food I had seen since we'd been here.

_Wait, what? _This was not what I had been expecting at all. But then it sunk in that we got to eat something that was actually edible, and I started running for the food like everyone else. I started piling my plate high, fully intending to stuff my face until my stomach burst. But then, I stopped myself.

_How is eating delicious food a challenge? _Something was very wrong here, and I didn't know what. I decided to play it safe and just got a normal amount of food on my plate. I ate is slowly, savoring every bite, while everyone else shoveled it in like there was no tomorrow.

It took us only 15 minutes to finish off the buffet, everyone moaning in pain form shoving their stomachs so full of food. This was probably the closest I'd ever see Heather to looking fat.

"I am so stuffed!" Katie cried, rubbing her stomach.

"Me too!" Sadie cried, and they got up to hug, only to hear the sound of denim ripping. The two blushed and sat back down, covering their pants.

Although I wasn't stuffed, I did feel a bit lethargic, from eating just a bit more food then usual; eating cooked food would do that to you. And that's when it hit me.

_Oh no. That evil, sadistic, sad excuse for a host! Everything that had happened- waking up early, running 20 kilometers, taking away the coffee maker, and stuffing us until it hurt- it was all designed to do one thing: make us tired._

"What more do you want from us?" Gwen asked Chris, tired of his games.

_Chris had spent the entire day setting us up to fail our next challenge, making us miserable in the process._

"Weird goth girl is right." Heather said, agreeing with Gwen. "Haven't we been through enough?"

_It was a good plan, what Chris had done. I didn't know whether to be impressed or appalled_.

"Let me thing about that. NO!" Chris said to her with his megaphone.

_All of this stuff that Chris had planned, it could only lead to one thing._ "It's time… for the Awakeathon!"

Oh, I was so screwed.

_No way, Courtney. You're not going down without a fight. _I needed a plan, because stamina alone wasn't going to keep me awake. It was then that I remembered that I had brought a few energy drinks with me to the island, just in case. _Perfect._

I crept slowly to the door of the Lodge, so no one would notice me. I wasn't really paying attention to what everyone else was saying at the moment, to intent on putting my plan into action. I reached the door, quietly slipping outside, and then breaking into a sprit after I was sure no one could see me.

I slammed open the door to my cabin and went digging through my bags until I found the energy drinks. I had brought a Java Monster, Diet Rockstar, and a few 5 Hour Energy's. I reached for a 5 Hour energy and started twisting off the lid, when a hand from behind me grabbed the Monster out of my bag, and I bet you can guess who.

"Duncan! What are you doing here?!" I yelled at him. Who did he think he was, just following me like that, and then stealing my stuff on top of it!?

"Same as you." he replied, like he hadn't been doing anything wrong. "I saw that the coffeemaker was gone too. 'Out of Order' I mean, come on, they really can't do better then that?" I had to give him credit, I didn't think he was bright enough to figure out that something was up before Chris said anything, but I guess I was wrong. This guy was just full of surprised, most of them not all that pleasant for me either.

"Well, if you're going to steal my stuff, at least take this instead." I said reluctantly handing him a 5 Hour Energy. I didn't want him taking my stuff, but he was on my team, so I needed him awake too if we were going to win this.

"What the hell? No thanks, I think I'd rather take the Monster." He reached outto grab it back, but I pulled it away.

"_This_ one doesn't give you an energy crash, unlike the Monster. And do you really want to crash right in the middle of the Awakeathon?" I said smugly, taking pride in have outsmarted him.

"Okay, good point." he replied, annoyed at having not gotten his Monster. I would have to remember to hide that one later. "Well, bottoms up!" he tapped his glass against mine like we were making a toast, and downed the drink. I did the same with mine, hoping that 5 hours would be long enough to outlast our competition. We shoved the empty bottles under my mattress, hiding the evidence.

"We better get back before they notice we're gone" I told Duncan. He just nodded his head, and followed me as I jogged back to the Lodge. We managed to sneak in without anyone noticing, just as Chris was yelling at us to get out the door and over to the bonfire pit.

"Move, move, move!" he yelled through his megaphone, and everyone dragged themselves out the door, completely drained. I on the other hand, was already starting to feel the effects of my energy drink, and from the way Duncan looked I was guessing that so was he. I could totally win this thing; all I had to do was keep moving so I stayed awake.

_Bring it on, Chris. I'm ready for whatever more you want to throw at me,_ I thought. But somehow, I didn't quite believe it.

* * *

Duncan POV

"We are now 12 hours in with all 21 campers still wide awake" Chris said, narrating for the benefit of the cameras. As you can tell, the 5 hour thingy Courtney gave me hadn't gotten me very far. It had worn off a _long_ time ago, and now I was on my own again.

"Wooo-hooo!" Owen cried, walking past me. He had been walking backwards in circles for hours now. "Stay awake for 12 hours, I could do that in my sleep! Wooo-hooo!" He put his fist up in the air, and then fell over, deep in sleep. What an idiot.

Courtney had been jogging in place since the moment the challenge started. She must have been trying to keep herself awake that way, but it seemed to me like she was just loosing her energy faster. But at least it was a better idea then Izzy's, who had been hanging upside down in a tree, until she had fallen asleep, falling out on her head. Something told me that wasn't the first time that had happened.

"This is the most boring thing I've ever done in my life." Gwen said in an almost monotone voice from exhaustion. I couldn't agree more with her. Most people were too tired to talk, so we were just sitting around doing nothing. At lest in juvi there was a good fight or something to entertain us.

_Maybe now would be a good time to try that only prank about putting someone's hand in warme water and they pee their pants in their sleep thing. _I thought, smirking at the mental image. _I'll have to remember to try that to Harold later._

"It could be way worse." Trent yawned back to her.

"Oh yeah, how?" as soon as Gwen asked that I could tell Trent was going to say some really sugary sweet line back to her.

"I could be stuck here without you to talk to." Oh ew, what did I tell you. I hated romantic crap like that. Lines like that just made me want to gag. Plus, what was the point? I mean, if you were meant for someone it should just happen naturally, there was no need to go through the torment of making up cheese lines like that.

Yeah, I know, big surprise, the tough guy isn't completely against a relationship. It's not that I don't want one; it's just that I haven't found a girl that turns me on enough to be worth the effort. The girls I usually hooked up with were either to stupid or too shallow, actually they were kind of like Lindsey and Heather. Not that I'd ever tell anyone this, because then my reputation would be ruined.

"What are you doing?" Beth asked Lindsey, who was currently standing on her head.

"I'm trying to get all the blood to rush to my head. I think it's working." she told her. Oh god.

"Cool! Can I try"?

"Sure!" Now both of them were on their heads. Could they really be that stupid?

"Lindsey, Beth, can I talk to you for a sec?" Heather asked the two of them, motioning with her hands for them to follow her.

"Sure!" Lindsey replied, and she and Beth stood up, following Heather to a spot out of everyone else's hearing range. Heather was probably planning to make an alliance with the two dumbest people in the game, so they would do anything she asked without question. It was a really bitchy move. Now do you see what I mean about not finding anyone girlfriend worthy?

At this point in the competition, everyone had bags under their eyes. Most people were already too tired to yawn anymore, their bodies no longer having the energy to do even that. Winning this thing was going to be a piece of cake. There was no way anyone could last much longer.

Heather and her two followers finally finished strategizing (although it was probably more like her telling them what to do while they blindly obeyed her. Talk about a dictatorship) and sat back down on some of the stumps we were all on. Chris had told us all that we had to all stay in one spot, that way we couldn't cheat. Little did he know Courtney and I had already tried that, although it hadn't worked out to well.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." Eva said, getting up out of her seat, however it wasn't for us (like we really needed to know that information.) but rather for Chris, who was monitoring everyone.

As Eva stood up, her iPod fell out of her pocket, without her noticing. Heather walked over to it, pretending to stretch, but really picked up the iPod and put in her pocket. It didn't look like anyone else had seen it, too tired to stay focused. Or at lead everyone but me, and apparently Courtney, who started walking over to Heather, clearly peeved at her and ready to give Heather a piece of her mind. But as she walked passed, I put out a hand to stop her.

"Do you really want to get in the middle of that?" I asked, somewhat quietly. Not that I needed to; everyone else was too far gone at this point.

"If I don't, then Eva will throw a hissy fit and get sent home!" she whispered back in a shrill voice.

"Exactly, and we don't." Even Courtney, as nice as she was (or tried to be, with that temper of hers. Man, she was fun to piss off.) couldn't say no to that. She wanted to win this game even more then I did, and would stop at nothing to do it.

"You're so heartless." She said to me, no longer intending to go yell at Heather, which was a bit hypocritical if you ask me.

"And don't you forget it." I didn't take it as an insult at all. A green mohawk and black cloths didn't exactly say 'Hi, I'm Mr. Lovable! Come be friends with me'. Courtney just scoffed at me and went back to jogging in place.

Whatever, I'd get her to come over to my side eventually.

* * *

"We are now into the 24 hour mark!" Chris announced, but it was for the cameras, not us. There was a timer telling us how long we had been up just out of all the cameras range. "Time to take it up a notch." We were already half asleep, what more did this guy want from us? "Fairytales!" Oh god.

"Oh, you _cannot_ be serious." Gwen said, saying what I had just been thinking. I had the feeling that the two of us would get along great.

Chris cleared his throat, and Chef stared playing the harp.

"Once upon a time, there was, inside this boring kingdom, a boring village." Chris began in a slow, monotone voice, to try and make us more tired. And judging by all the people that began to yawn, it was working. "And inside this boring, sleeping village, filled with boring, sleepy children, who did very boring, sleepy things…" but then Chris stopped, and I had to be hallucinating. Because, seemingly out of nowhere, the Sugar Plum princess song form the Nutcracker started playing (no, I'm not gay, I was forced into seeing one Christmas when I was little by my mom, and the nightmares of it still haunt me), and, wait for it, Chef started dancing around…. in a pink tutu. And to add to the effect, he started sprinkling sparkles on everyone, the made people tired (was it supposed to be sleepy sand?).

DJ, who had just finished securing himself to a tree, got hit by Chef's sparkles, and fell asleep instantly. And to make things worse, just as he did, the tree he was tied to gave way, falling on top of him. However he was out cold, and didn't even wake up.

_He was defiantly going to feel that in the morning._

"Timber." Gwen called out, to no one in particular.

"Ooooh, that's gotta hurt." Geoff said, cringing. "I can't believe he didn't wake up for that!"

"Yeah, he's out cold. I wish everyone else would do the same already." I said to him.

"Well, I can't last much longer, I'm already hallucinating."

"Chef dancing around in a pink tutu?"

"_Yeah_!" Geoff said, his eyes bugging out of his head in surprise, and so did mine.

_Wow, this show is weird. _I couldn't believe they had gotten Chef to do that.

"I wonder how much they had to pay him too…" but I stopped talking when I look back over at Geoff, who was now quietly snoring. The only person left that was actually worth talking to was now fast asleep.

_This is going to be one hella long night._

* * *

Courtney POV

_Just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep moving_, I chanted in my head. It had been a mantra repeating in my ming for the last 29 hours. I figured that if I just kept my body moving, I would stay awake, and outlast everyone. Bridgett and DJ had fallen asleep already, so I had no one left to talk with to keep myself awake. Staying active was my last hope.

Gwen and Trent were talking to each other, like they had been this entire challenge. It was sweet really, too bad they wouldn't last. No two people that different could work. I've heard of opposites attract, but come on, that couple was more extreme then say, me and Duncan. There had to be a limit.

_Actually, now that I think about it, Trent might be a good boyfriend…_ But then I looked at how into Gwen he was, and decided that that wasn't going to happen.

Just then, Owen walked passed the two of them. Nude.

_Ewww! I so did not need to see that again! _What was with this guy and striping? I heard a chuckle from behind me and turned to see it was none other then Duncan. What a jerk.

Off in the corner, I saw Katie and Sadie asleep together, snoring quietly. The two of them even fell asleep together.

Then I looked over and saw that Harold was on the ground a few feet away, laying in his own drool, gross.

_I wonder if he's gonna drown… I really hope not. We already lost Ezekiel on our team, we don't need to loose him too, even if he is an uncoordinated looser._

Next to where I was jogging, Bridgett blinked her eyes, yawned, and got up to stretch, awake again after 9 hours of sleep. She walked over to me and sat down on a log, still blinking the sleep away from her eyes.

"Morning, Courtney," she said, then looked around and saw that it was dark out again. "or should I say good night. How long was I out for?"

"About nine hours." I told her, only half in the conversation, in mind still chanting my mantra.

"Wow, and yet I'm still tired." she paused to laugh. "I can't believe you can stay awake for this long! It's crazy!"

"Yeah, but I'll be fine as long as I keep moving, that way I won't have the chance to be tired.

"Stuphid, flmamiphing cat… gimme back mph nose." mumbled Tyler, talking in his sleep a few feet away. Me and Bridgett exchanged glances and then cracked up in a fit of giggles.

"Someone's having a weird dream" Bridgett said, still giggling.

"Yeah… I'm really glad I don't sleep talk" I said, too tired to laugh anymore.

"Well, I think I'm going to go back to sleep now."

"Lucky you."

"Well at least you have Tyler's sleep talk to entertain you." she said, giggling again.

"Yeah, goodnight" Bridgett waked back over to the spot she had been laying on, and fell back asleep. Why couldn't everyone else do that already?

* * *

I had been awake now _for 50 hours._ Never had I had to do that in my entire life, and I hoped that I'd never have to ever again. But I was going to win this thing, there was no way I was going to loose _another_ challenge. Those Gophers could suck it.

"Look at him, he's like a statue. He hasn't' moved in over…" Gwen paused to look at the timer, "50 hours!" She was talking about Justin, who had been motionless ever since we had started the challenge. It really was weird that he could do that. I know if I stopped moving I would fall over on the spot. The hard ground looked pretty inviting at this point too, which really said something considering how dirty and bug-ridden it was. Why couldn't the forest have a floor of nice and plushy carpet? Or maybe pillows, yeah, that'd be much better.

_No Courtney, stay focused. Just keep moving, just keep moving!_

Gwen and Trent started making noises, and jumping around to try and faze him, but it was unsuccessful.

"Wow, amazing, just look at the concentration." Gwen said in aw, tapping the side of his head. Apparently, that had woken him up, because Justin started blinking, only to reveal that he had eyes painted on his eyelids, and had been asleep the entire time. Gwen gasped, and so did Trent. I couldn't believe that cheater! The nerve of some people.

"His eyelids are painted! I saw it!" Eva exclaimed, pointing over to Justin.

"Get out! Oh, I gotta see this." Chris said excitedly, jogging over to him. Justin tried not to blink, but failed, and gave him a smile as if to say he was innocent.

"That is so crazy incredible! But, your still our dude." Chris told him, and the smile fell of his face, replaced with a look of defeat.

_One more down, you can do this. How much longer could it possibly take?_

* * *

Duncan POV

Okay, had been 79 hours already, and I couldn't take this much longer. I had to do something or else I was going to loose this, and if I had already gone this long, loosing was not an option at this point.

_Well, Courtney did have that Monster in her suitcase…_ That could defiantly work. I could ride on a Monster for a good seven hours, since it was so big, and looking around at all the other campers, it really didn't look like they had that much longer in them.

Chris was currently asleep, like he had been for the past hour. No one cared enough to wake him up, so all we had were the cameras to watch us, and with how dark it was, they couldn't see much anyways. Plus, the crew that was manning them was half asleep as well, so sneaking past them would be easy.

I got up quietly, and tiptoed over to the edge of the forest, carful not to step on anyone sleeping on the ground. As soon as I was under the cover of the trees, I started running as fast as I could, but it turned out to be more of a slow paced jog. It must have took 10 minutes to reach the cabin, and I soon as I got there, I tore through Courtney's suitcase, clothing ( and a few other things I probably shouldn't mention) went flying everywhere.

_I'll clean it all up after the challenge, _I vowed, knowing Courtney would be pissed. _Or on second thought, maybe I'll leave it._

As soon as I found the monster I popped it open and downed it in no time at all. Once it hit my stomach I could immediately feel the caffeine kicking in, (no, there was no sugar in it. Girls and their stupid diet shit.) and I ran back to the bonfire with ease. Chris was still asleep, so I hadn't been caught. However, when I was waling back to my seat, I tripped over Bridgett, and fell on my face, waking up Chris. Courtney looked over at me and tried to hold back a laugh, and smiled like me tripping had proclaimed her the winner of something.

"Crap, how's my hair, I don't have bed head do I?" Chris asked, panicked at the though of being caught with a bad hairdo. Typical Chris. There was really something wrong with that guy.

"No, your good!" said one of the crew members, giving him a thumbs up form behind his camera.

"Okay, good. I'm gonna go get some one of the interns to get me some coffee, anyone want one?"

"Yes, oh please, I'm begging you!" Gwen pleaded, walking over to Chris, and getting down on her knees.

"Just one little cup, please!" Courtney said, getting down besides Gwen. How pathetic, she should have gone for the Monster.

"Umm, yeah, I was talking to the crew. Beside, that would be cheating. And what kind of show would we be if we allowed that?" Chris replied with a laugh. I had to admit, if he wasn't working against me I'd really admire the guy.

"I'll take one!" shouted out one of the camera men.

"Me too. Extra strong." said another one.

"Where are those dang interns when you need them? Have them test _one_ sofa bed skydiving stunt and they all suddenly go into hiding. A few extreme stunts never hurt anybody. Just great, I'll have to go and get one myself. ." Chris complained to them. "And don't you campers try anything funny while I'm gone. One of the perks of being on a reality show is that you have cameras watching you _every _move. Although then again, maybe you should. Drama is what ups the ratings baby!"

_Dude, too late. I already did. And now I was gonna beat these suckers by a landslide._

* * *

Courtney POV

80 hours. I had been awake now for _80 hours._ I was never going to complain about having to film for a movie all night ever again. At least there I had some coffee.

And as if to answer my prayers, at that moment Chris reappeared, and in his hands were four coffee cups.

_Thank god, I didn't think I could last much longer. _But my sleepy state must have been effecting my ability to think straight, because _of course_ the coffee wasn't for us, it was for the crew. So all of us had to sit here and smell it, and I swear Chris had only done it to torture us.

"You've got to be kidding me! Where did you even get that? It's actually the good stuff, not the crappy convenience store brand we get!" I cried, but came off in a bit of a mumble, my state impairing my ability to speak. I already knew he had gotten it from whatever luxury suit the show had put him up in, even before I asked the question. Chris wasn't the kind of person to agree to a show unless he was provided with only the best. Actually, he was kind of like me in that way.

Chris didn't even hear my question, my voice being a bit too quiet.

"Okay, I'm going to go get some beauty sleep." he announced to us, yawning. "The crew here is going to be here to keep an eye on you, and if you try anything, well, lets just say your lives are gonna get a whole lot harder, got it?" Instead of an intelligible reply, he got a chorus of moans and grunts, everyone too tired to form an understandable response.

"Works for me!" Chris said, and walked off, leaving us here in all of our sleep deprived misery.

"So _he_ gets to go of and relax in some luxury suit, while we stay out here, hungry and miserable. Just great." Duncan said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. So he had figured out that Chris had better living accommodations then us too. He was really proving to be a lot smarter then I gave him credit for, which I didn't like one bit.

"He gets the suit while were stuck with these crappy cabins. Cheapskate. One of these days when he's gone I'm going to find where he's staying and trash it just to piss him off." I snipped, to mad at Chris to care that it was Duncan I was talking to. No one else was up to talk to anyways. Lucky me, I had been reduced to talking to the punk freak.

"Wow, Princess has a bad side."and he raised an eyebrow at me. "So just who are you going to take on this little expedition of yours anyways? It's not really a one person job." Okay, I _did not _have a bad side, I just got a bit worked up sometimes. And besides, a little revenge once and awhile never hurt anyone. Well, except maybe Chris in this case.

"I don't know yet." I said, not really concerned about that part. I could handle something like that no matter who I took. I just had great leadership skills like that. "Maybe Bridgett or DJ." Duncan just shook his head and laughed at me. "What?"

"A klutz or an oversensitive animal lover. Hmmm, I wonder which one would have less of a chance of catastrophically blowing it." And then he laughed at me again, which _really_ pissed me off.

"And just who would _you _suggest I take then?" I asked, sitting down next to him.

_Whoa, big mistake._ It was just like the run all over again. I didn't realize how spent I was until I actually sat down. The minute I let go of my muscles I was overwhelmed with exhaustion. It was hard just to stay focused and listen to Duncan, let alone stay awake.

_Hey, why does Duncan look so alert anyways? He can't really have that much energy after over 3 days without sleep._ But I let that thought go, too tired to pursue the topic any farther.

"Well, lets see, Eva had too big a temper, Katie and Sadie can't keep quiet to save their lives, Geoff isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, and neither are Lindsey and Beth, Heather is too controlling, you can't stand Justin" wow, I was surprised he had picked up on that. I didn't think I had been that obvious. "Cody and Tyler have no coordination whatsoever, Noah is way too pessimistic, Izzy is crazy, Gwen's too like me for you to ever like, Trent's to into Gwen not to tell her about going, and Harold, well I think that one is self explanatory." He paused to chuckle. " I on the other hand, have expert experience lawbreaking, sneaking around, and breaking out of juvi" He gave my a smug grin, like I had no choice but to go looking for Chris's place with him. As if. I wouldn't go with him if he was the last person on earth.

"Yeah, failed breakout attempts, otherwise you wouldn't be here." I said, but it came out more as a unitelagable mumble, but he somehow still got it.

"Not all of them, Sweetheart. Beside, I'm still-" but I didn't' hear the rest of what he was saying, because I had already fallen asleep.

* * *

Duncan POV

"-the best person for the job if you even want to have a chance at…" But I stopped talking when I felt something leaning on my shoulder. I looked over only to see Courtney had fallen asleep with her head resting there. She was really not going to be happy when she woke up with it there in the morning. All the more reason to let her keep it there.

So far, the only other people left in the challenge were Heather, Eva, Trent (even though I swear I had seen him fall asleep already) and Gwen. It wouldn't be much longer now until I won. They were going to pass out at any second. All of us were starving as well as sleep deprived, but my stomach had given up growing hours ago, knowing it wasn't getting food anytime soon. When you stayed up 24 hours a day, 3 meals didn't do much to keep you fueled.

"Hey, who ordered the Chinese takeout?" asked a delivery guy. Wait a minute, how did he get here? I thought this camp was in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, that was us." said one of the crew members, a few others setting down their cameras to go and eat.

_Oh, this is just plain torture. Chris had to have set all this up._ But it was okay. Any minute now, the others were going to pass out. I just had to wait it out until then.

* * *

Courtney POV

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Katie and Sadie screamed together. Their piecing screams are what woke me up that morning, bringing my somewhat back into consciousness. I fluttered my eyelids open, still not fully awake, or aware of where I was. I was merely observing my surroundings, not really taking them in.

"Omg! I just had the _worst_ nightmare!" Sadie exclaimed.

"Me too! Was it about a _mega _bad hair day?" Katie exclaimed.

"Yeah! That is like, so weird!" And then they started squealing and hugging, excited to have yet another thing in common.

Waking up a bit more, I vaguely became aware that my head was resting on something. Something really warm.

"Morning Princess, sleep well?" Duncan asked me, and I instantly sprung up, whipping my head off of his shoulder. "What, do I not make a good pillow?"

"I-I. You-" I stuttered, trying to come up with a witty comeback, but drawing a blank. "It was too late at night, and I was too tired to be held accountable for my actions!" I yelled at him, desperate to prove that it was an accident that I fell asleep there. I didn't need this event boosting his already too large ego.

"Of course you were." He said with a cocky grin, not believing me at all, or just trying to get on my nerves. I'm not sure which one was worse.

"I-" but I was cut off by another piecing scream. I turned to see that this time it was DJ, who had woken up to find a snake crawling on him, and not being able to shake it off since he was still tied to a tree. Yuck.

"GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" he yelled, breaking the rope and running around I circles, until he tripped over a tree branch and fell face first into a mud puddle, that is.

I turned back around, ready to snip at Duncan, only to find he was gone. He reappeared thirty seconds later, a cup of water in his hands. He got down next to a sleeping Harold, and stuck his fingers in the water, causing him to pee his pant almost instantaneously.

_Oh my god, what an immature jerk!_ But even thinking this I couldn't help but let out a small giggle. After all, it was kind of funny, and it was Harold.

"Aw gross it works! Dude peed his pants!" Duncan exclaimed, pointing at Harold who had now woken up, and looked down at his crotch.

"Awww man!" Okay, I couldn't help but laugh at that, it was just too funny. Mean and immature, but still funny.

Off in the corner, I saw Noah kissing Cody's ear, still asleep.

_Well, that explains a lot._

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" the two screamed, waking up and jumping apart. They ran off in different directions, as fast as they could.

"Hey, what's up with all this SCEAMING?!" Eva yelled, but she didn't get a response, because Chris waked up, finally awake again, with a steaming coffee in his hand.

_Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Coffee. I could go for a nice latte right now. Or some chocolate. Ohhhh! Or a mocha. Yeah, a mocha, that sounds really good._

"What is wrong with you people?" Chris asked us, pausing to take a sip of his coffee, just to rub it in. "Come on, _fall_ _asleep already_!"

"You gotta hook me up man." Gwen said, giving it one last shot at getting some caffeine. She got down on her knees again, and yanked on Chris's pant leg. "I'll even eat the grinds! Anything!" But the only response she got from Chris was him holding up his coffee cup farther out of her reach.

"Alright, you five stay with me, the rest of you go and get a shower for heavens sake. You stink!" Hey, I did not stink! Or, okay, maybe just a little but like he could really tell from way over there.

Hearing this, obviously the first thing I went to do was go take a shower (and using my good scented body wash just incase). I was so sore from jogging in place so long. and stiff from sleeping on Duncan's shoulder, that the hot water running over my muscles felt absolutely incredible. I took probably the longest shower in the history of the world (and I'm not kidding, I could have broken a world record here), and by the time I got out, I felt revived and refreshed. And also in desperate need of some coffee. After doing a quick make up job and taking the flat iron to my hair (plus a little deodorant for good measure), I headed back to my cabin to drop off my shower bag, stopping by the confessional on my way there to vent about the challenge.

"I figured that if I could keep moving, I could outlast all of them. I just had to keep my eye on the ball." I said to the camera, trying to stay level headed. As much as I wanted to vent about Duncan making my loose, I knew it would be twisted in editing to make me look bad. And that might have even been worse then people thinking I was in rehab. "I would have won it too, if I hadn't sat down." I sighed, turned off the camera and walked out. But when I got to the cabin, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"AAHHHHH! WHERE IS MY MP3 PLAYER!" Eva yelled, throwing a guitar, stereo, and a number of other items out the window of our cabin, landing into a growing pile of objects strewn across the grass. And did she just throw out my Prada purse? "Someone must have stolen it! I need my music! No one is going ANYWHERE until I get my mp3 player back!"

_Oh why had I ever listed to Duncan? He just had to be so damn persuasive, using my weakness of wanting to win the game against me like that. Well I was never going to listen to him again._

I couldn't exactly tell her I knew where it was, because then she's know I didn't come up and tell her where it was in the first place. And to put it simply, a mad Eva really scared me. Actually, even a calm Eva scared me, or at least it would if she ever was calm.

Eva threw a book out the window (which happened to be Romeo and Juliet, and I'm sorry, but even if you are pissed _how_ can you be so carless to a classic like that?), almost hitting Harold. And that's when I saw Heather walking up.

"Okay, whoever took it better give it up_ now, _before she destroys the whole camp!" I said, making sure Heather could hear me.

"Oh hi, guys!" Heather said cheerfully, acting all innocent, like she hadn't sent Eva into an endless rage, causing her to obliterate everything in her path. Honesty, the girl was like a humane tornado. "Wow guys, this place is a real mess."

"Someone _stole_ Eva's mp3 player." I said, shooting Heather an I-know-what-you-did-and-you-better-fix-it-now-or-you'll-be-in-your-grave-tommorow glare. By the way she cringed I was pretty sure she got the message.

"Oh you don't mean this do you?" she continued to act all innocent as she pulled the mp3 out of her pocked. Eva stuck her head out the cabin door, her eyes going wide like a 3 year old in Candyland. "I was wondering who this belonged to. I found it by the campfire pit, you must have dropped it." Eva went bounding over to Heather in three long strides, taking the mp3 from her and holding it up as if it were her baby.

"Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank you!" Eva's voice was unusually high, as she hugged the device to her chest, cradling it.

"Sure thing!" Heather shrugged and walking away, swinging her hips.

_Wow, I just met the spawn of Satin. _I expected to see little horns and a tail appear on her any minute, looking after her with wide, expectant eyes.

"So sorry about that little misunderstanding, I guess on one stole it after all." Eva told us, laughing awkwardly, then continuing on. "Okay, maybe I over reacted a little."

"Screaming Gophers, Congrads," Chris announced over the loud speaker, interrupting out conversation. "Gwen won the challenge, thanks to Duncan taking a nap on the can. Lunch is up, so get it while it's still hot!"

_Just great, another loose for the Killer Bass. _These looses were seriously crushing my spirits. When I got back to California I was going to need some major therapy.

I walked into the Lodge, not even bothering to get onto the lunch line, but instead going straight for the coffeemaker. I loaded up a tray with four cups of coffee, knowing I would need them all with as bad as my head was pounding. It was like I had been hit in the face by a semi.

"Well, looks like someone has a bit of a coffee addiction." Geoff said as I sat down at our table, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I'm not addicted, my body just couldn't function without it."

"Right, because those two things are just radically different." Geoff teased me, and I smiled at him, rolling my eyes. I looked back at Bridgett to find her giving me a look that said 'he's mine, don't touch him'.

_Well, someone's a bit defensive. _But as soon as she realized the look she was giving me, she immediately replaced the it with a smile.

"Omg, I can't believe I'm missing seeing the New Moon trailer today! I've been waiting to see it for, like, ever!" Exclaimed Katie, bounced up and down in her seat a bit.

"Oh, yeah, that was today wasn't it?" Bridgett asked her.

"Yes! And I bet it's great! Katie, we _have_ to see it once we get internet access!" Sadie told Katie, turning to face her.

"I don't know, I wouldn't expect much after Twilight, that movie really sucked." I said, causing Katie and Sadie to gasp, their jaws dropping all the way to the floor.

"I know! " Bridgett exclaimed, getting excited like every true Twilight fan did when talking about Twilight. "And what was with that whole scene at the end where Bella was supposed to be dying. It totally looked like she was having an orgasm!"

"Okay, I'm leaving now." Eva said, getting up from the table, but we ignored.

"I know" I cried, starting to get on a high, and talking 5 times to fast. "The entire movie was terrible, I mean Robert Pattison? He looks like a damn meth addict!" Katie and Sadie were hyperventilating at this point.

"Yeah! The only good scene was when Edward gets out of the car with his sunglasses, which by the way it was sunny outside! So not cool! New Moon is going to really crash and burn."

"I don't know how they are going to make Breaking Dawn either, and keep it PG13. What are they going to say anyways, 'Oh yeah, the stork just dropped of my baby and now I have Renesmee!'"

"Or 'Yeah, I just kind of got a little drunk last nigh and now surprise, I'm pregnant!'" The two of us were laughing so hard we couldn't breath.

"Those movies were perfect! You don't know what your talking about!" Katie cried, standing up getting up from the table on one violent movement. "Come on Sadie, let's leave."

"Yeah, lets." They stuck up their noses and walked over to the other side of the table to finish their meals, which only made me and Bridgett laugh even harder. Eventually we calmed down, taking a few deep breaths to calm ourselves down, until we could finally talk again.

"Twilight sucks the most suck that ever sucked." Bridgett said, calm again.

"Yeah, but I still love watching it!" I exclaimed.

"Me too!" and then we started laughing again.

"Idiots." Harold said, but we were too far gone on Twilight to hear him.

* * *

"Okay, that girl Eva has _got_ to get a handle on her temper." I said onto the confessional camera. "She's only been here one day and she's already throw her suitcase out the window and broken the lock on one of the bathroom doors." It was true, this afternoon she couldn't get the lock open so she just pulled I right off, breaking it like a toothpick. I wrote Eva's name down on the paper provided and dropped it into the voting box. I felt a little bit guilty, but with a temper like that it was bound to happen eventually.

It was just after diner, and the camp had already gotten dark outside. You could hear the crickets chirping and see al the stars with perfect clarity. That meant it was almost time to go to the campfire for the elimination ceremony. I had waited for the last possible minute to vote, knowing it was worthless since we all knew Eva was going home.

As I was walking to the campfire, I ran into Lashawna, who had just gotten done with a late night shower. "Hey, girl, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing, just going to the campfire ceremony." I sighed, just wanting to get this over with so I could get some sleep. I don't know what I'd do without my make up; I had bags under my eyes like you wouldn't believe. Plus, the coffee was started to wear off, bringing back my headache.

"Do you know who's going home?" she asked expectantly.

"Defiantly Eva. Her temper is seriously a problem. We're all afraid of getting hit by flying objects whenever she's around."

"Oh, well thank God for that. That girl broke the only working lock on the bathroom door! And I'd rather not have the door fly open so everyone can look at me while I'm doing my business, thank you very much." I would have laughed at that, if I didn't feel like I was about to collapse on the spot.

"Yeah, well see you around." And with that I continued to drag my feet over to the campfire, collapsing on the first open log/seat I saw, which happened to be right next to Eva.

"Okay, Chris, we're ready for you!" one of the crew members called out to him. Chris walked out of the cover of the trees, carrying a tray of marshmallows.

"You've all cast your votes and made your decision." he said, setting down his try in an open seat, where Ezekiel would have sat, the sexist jerk. Was Chris really that wimpy that he couldn't even carry little tray of marshmallows? "There are only nine marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow." Oh, so he was calling it a plate was he? Well that was one freaking big plate. "The camper who does not receive a marshmallow, must immediately return to the dock of shame, and catch the boat of losers, and leave. And you can never come back. Ever."

Chris called through everyone's name, and they went up to get a marshmallow. When mine was called, I happily skipped over to get it, smiling at the fact that I was not one of the bottom two this week. Eventually, the only two campers left sitting down were Harold and Eva, but like last week, the loser was too obvious to really have any suspense in the moment.

"Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening." he paused, waiting a good minute or two before reveling who was going home, forcing Eva and Harold to suffer longer, just like he always aimed to do. "Harold!" He smiled and walked up to get his marshmallow.

"'Eva, the dock of shame awaits." Chris gestured for her to leave, a smile on his face knowing that Eva was bound to have a huge blow up at this, which of course, was sure to boost his ratings. And Chris liked nothing better then gaining fame and watching teenage suffering. We just had such a great host, didn't we?

"Nice guys, really nice." Eva said to all of us, her eyebrows coming down low as she narrowed her eyes at us. "Who needs this lamo TV show anyway!" she balled her hands and stomped off, the meanest expression I had ever seen on her face. She walked off to the dock of shame, passing by Chris, who shrank back from her, but kept that smile on his face, getting the dramatic reaction he had been hoping for. But then Eva stomped down on his toes, whipping the smirk right off his face. Good for her.

"Owwww!" he lifted up his knee and held onto his toes, clearly in pain. "Have a good nights sleep tonight, your all safe." he said, turning back to face us.

"Ba-bye Eva" I said, waving to her as she boarded the boat. The reply I got was a spear being throw at my head, and it would have hit me too it I hadn't ducked. "Touchy!"

"Just be thankful it wasn't a butcher's knife." Geoff said to me, referring to the time Chef had thrown one at him.

"Or one of those weights of hers." DJ added, and almost if she had heard us, one of those was hurtled at us too, chipping off a piece of rock on the cliff behind us where it had hit.

"Wow, she's strong. Maybe we shouldn't have voted her off." Bridgett commented wearily, an uncertain expression pasted on her face.

"Don't worry guys, I'm just as tough as she is. I can get us through anything that she can." said Tyler, striking a heroic pose. But he ended up losing his balance and falling over, hitting his head on a rock. "Oww."

"Tim-ber" Duncan said, causing most of us to laugh, except for an embarrassed Tyler, who had a growing bump on his head.

None of us were awake enough to stay and roast our marshmallows, so we just walked back to the cabins to get some sleep. Well, it was more like crawling, at the pace we were going. I stopped by the confessional one more time, to opinionated not to share my views. It was a problem I was working on.

"See, I told you. You can't act like a total raging psychopath and expect people to forgive you, no matter how tough and fast and strong you are. She's never going to have a career if she doesn't get her act together." Unfortunately, I spoke from personal experience. I had learned early on in the acting business that unless you were already extremely successful, you couldn't act like a total bitch and get away with it. You had to earn the right to be a stuck up drama queen.

As I crawled into bed that night, I found myself thinking about what Duncan had said about finding Chris's place. It really did sound appealing, considering the crappy accommodations the show had given us. Only, there was no way I was going with him. I wasn't that desperate. Yet...

* * *

**A/N: Btw, sry if the twilight thing wasn't funny, but we went on about it in video calss yestersay and it was just too funnly not to put it in! you had to b there. so back to my dilemma! Please tell me if you noe where to download tdi episodes! It would be greatly appreciated :- D And review, cuz this lack of them lately is seriously taking a chip out of my self-esteem. Don't u like my story?! I might write faster if I noe you want to read more!!! 3**


	9. Dodge Brawl

**A/N: Hey! i just want to say i just got the best editor _ever,_ and her name is Saara-chan! the awesomness of this chapter is thanks to her :) Enjoy!**

* * *

Dodge Brawl

Duncan POV

"Duncan, wake up man. Chris blew the bullhorn half an hour ago." DJ said, shaking my shoulder to try and get me to wake up. I just groaned into my pillow, not moving an inch, and never ever intending to for at least the next 24 hours.

"Dude, come on, we need to win this challenge." Geoff told me, coming over to help DJ get me up, giving when I still didn't move. "Okay, time for plan B." The two of them started pulling me off the bed, which wasn't too hard since I was too tired to put up any resistance. In no time I was heaved off the bed, and dropped hard on the floor like a dead corpse, which is exactly what I felt like.

"Oh, sorry man! We didn't mean to make you fall on the floor." DJ apologized to me. I lifted my face off the ground, using every ounce of energy I had to do so, my eye's squinting at the daylight coming through the windows. How could I have been out this long and still feel so shitty? Oh yeah, cuz Harold's snoring prevented me from getting any sleep whatsoever.

"Yeah, it's just this little thing called gravity." I said sarcastically. I peeled myself off of the floor, a headache the size of Chris's ego blossoming in my brain, caused, no doubt, by exhaustion and little sleep.

"Well, come on, lets get going. I don't wanna upset Chef by being late for breakfast." Geoff told me, throwing some clean cloths my way. I put them on, taking my sweet time, and started heading towards the door, but DJ held up a hand to stop me.

"Hold on a sec." he reached into this bag and pulled out a bottle of Axe, spraying me with it head on, and creating a hazy could of body spray. I started coughing like crazy, choking on the stuff, and turned to stick my head out the widow, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air.

"DJ, what the hell?!" I cried, sticking my head back into the cabin now that the Axe cloud had become more bearable.

"Sorry, but you really smell." he said, waving his hand in front of his nose.

"Yeah, dude, you stink!" Geoff agreed, scrunching up his nose to make his point.

Okay, they were probably right. Last night I had been a walking zombie, and was too tired to get in the shower, which meant it had been about 5 days since I last bathed. So I admit I was probably not smelling so sweet at the moment.

"Okay, let's get going." DJ said, but then I got struck with an idea.

"Wait a sec, there's just one more thing I need to do." I went over to my suitcase and pulled out a sharpie, then walked over to Harold, who was still fast asleep, and snoring loudly. After a few artistic touches to his face, I was ready to leave.

_That'll teach him to snore while I'm trying to sleep._

The three of us walked over to the Lodge, but DJ and Geoff abandoned me after a few minutes, annoyed at how slow I was going. I was dragging my feet as fast as they could go, which was approximately the speed of those two turtles they always use in that lame-o Comcast commercial.

I got into the Lodge after about 10 minutes of walking, even though it should have only taken two. I collapsed on the end of our teams table, letting my head fall on top of it with a loud clunk, fully intending to get some more sleep. But of course, everyone else was making that practically impossible, with their loud talking, making my headache even worse then it already was. Now it was more the size of Justin's ego. And let me tell you _that_ is the kind of headache that would inspire tears in a weaker man.

"Oh god, what is that smell?" Courtney asked, sounding repulsed.

_Ha, this Axe stuff really doesn't work._ Just goes to show you can never believe the commercials.

"Ask DJ" I mumbled into the table. Even though I couldn't see her I just knew she was giving me a funny look.

"Duncan!" Chris said, walking into the room. I lifted up my head slightly and turned it to the side, so I could glare at him for disrupting my attempt at sleep. "You look like death dude."

"Suck it." And with that set my head back down on the table and closed my eyes again.

"Harold snored all night." Courtney complained. Who was she to be complaining? A least she had gotten _some _sleep. Across the table, I could hear Katie and Sadie next to her quietly snoring, fast asleep. Lucky them.

"Wow-how-how. Four nights with no sleep. How much are you _hurting_ dude?" Chris laughed at me. _Oh, he picked the wrong day to mess with me._

"Wanna find out?!" I snapped at him, whipping my head of from the table and giving him an angry glare that would make even a murderer crap his pants.

"No, no, it's cool, it's cool." Chris held up his hands in surrender, his voice going high at the end in fear. Good, maybe now people would get the hint and _leave me alone_. And by the way everyone was cowering under the table (even Courtney, fearless of others as she seemed to be) I was guessing they had gotten the idea.

Before I had the chance to pound Chris's face in, which I was really considering as an option at this point, Harold came walking in the door. Everyone turned to look at him and snickered. More interested in sleeping, I dropped my head back on to the table, for the third time, an action that was seriously worsening my headache. At this point it felt like the f-ing mother of all migraines.

"Okay, what?" Harold demanded after the snickering had picked up into outright laughter. And I can guarantee you they weren't laughing with him.

"Somebody messed with your face dude!" Geoff told him, and I didn't even need to look up to know he had a mustache drawn on his face, since I was the one that had put it there. By what he said next, I could only assume he ad picked up a spoon or something to look at his reflection.

"Sweet stach."Harold said, and and by his tone I could tell he was serious too. This started up another fit of laughter. At this point I had totally given up on sleeping, but I was too tired to sit up straight in my seat.

"Hey everybody, give it up, it's Gwen!" Chris called out, and I could hear Gwen dragging into the room just like I had.

_Oh sure, she gets the star treatment, but oh no, I just get mocked. _Chris had better watch out, because I was going to get him back, whether it put me right back in jail or not.

"Hey fish heads!" Heather called out from the other side of the room. "Way to kick out your strongest player. Why don't you just give up now?" I just knew Courtney was going to stick it to her for that one.

I heard something wiz by my head, and a splat came from the other side of the room.

"Missed me!" Heather mocked.

_Way to go Courtney, real smooth. _

"Okay campers listen up!" Chris cut in, stealing back the spotlight. I swear that guy would marry the camera if he could. "Your next challenge begins in ten minutes, and be prepared to bra-_ing it_!" Just great. I had 10 minutes until I had to go and do another crazy stunt, and I'll be damned if I was actually going to go through with it. I was fully intending on sleeping through the whole thing. My team was capable of surviving one challenge without me, weren't they?

* * *

Courtney POV

"We our so stinking right now!" I vented to the confessional cam, pissed at how much our team had been losing. Heather had pushed me over the edge. "Okay, yes, Eva was psycho, but at least she was an athletic psycho!" I was seriously mad at Duncan right now for telling me not to say anything to Eva. Because of him, we had no one athletic left on our team, leaving us totally screwed. I would try to get him voted off, only he was too much of an asset to or team, with Eva gone. Stupid delinquent.

I stepped out of the confessional and into the daylight, grabbing a to-go cup of coffee before heading off to the challenge. I _had_ to win this time, just to show up Heather if nothing else. Since the oatmeal I had thrown had missed her, (after her little speech I got pissed and flicked some off my spoon at her, only she had side stepped, causing it to hit Gwen smack in the face. But that was still okay, I didn't like her either after she had stolen the last challenge from us.) I was driven to win this thing. Although, that meant nothing if I didn't have a capable team to help me.

We all walked out onto the beach, and into a giant glass walled gym, that looked awkward placed in the middle of the sand. I didn't like this one bit. Gym class was never fun, and being Total Drama Island, the show was bound to kick it up a notch.

We all gathered on the sidelines of the court in one big cluster, idly waiting for Chris to explain the challenge. Duncan wasn't even here yet, lagging far behind everyone else, taking his sweet time getting here. Well screw him; he wasn't going to be that much help today anyways, since he was like one of the walking dead.

"What do you think is with the gym?" DJ leaned over to ask me.

"There's only one PE sport vicious enough for this show." I said pausing for a second, to get that dramatic effect that Chris always used. And when I did, Bridgett spoke up from behind me.

"Dodge ball" Bridgett and I said at the same time, her cringing and me smiling. I was quite happy with the opportunity to 'accidentally' pound in Heather's face in with a flying ball. But from Bridgett and DJ's reactions I could tell they were more concerned with being on the receiving end of one of those balls, rather then excited to throw them.

Ten minutes after the rest of us, Duncan finally came shuffling in. He walked over to one of the bleachers on the outskirts of the court, collapsing across it. Before going back to sleep, he picked up his head and glared at us.

"Wake me up, and it will be the last thing you ever do." he threatened, and then dropped his head back down on the bench with a loud _thump._

Just great, the game hadn't even started yet and we had already lost one of our strongest players. I couldn't take this anymore! Without Duncan or Eva, this team was worthless.

"This is all _your_ fault you know. You and your SNORING FACE!" I sneered, pointing with my finger at Harold to emphasize each word.

"It's called a medical condition." he replied. "GOSH!" and then he got right up in my face, and I cringed back. I swear to god he even spit on me a little. Snoring little freak.

Chef walked in, blowing the whistle on us before we could bicker any further. He walked past everyone and stood next to Chris, who had one hand hidden behind his back.

"Today's challenge is the classic game of dodge ball." Chris said, pulling out a red ball out from behind his back. "The first rule of dodge ball is-"

"Do not talk about dodge ball." Noah said, cutting him off. He smiled and Owen laughed.

"As I was saying," Chris continued, "if you get hit with the ball," he threw the ball at me, hard. I stumbled backwards and let out an _ouff_. "your out."

"Hey! You can't do that!" I cried, before throwing the ball back at him, trying to make the throw just as hard.

"And if you catch the ball," and then Chris caught my ball, effortlessly despite all the force I put behind it. "the thrower gets sent out and the catcher gets to bring one team member back out on the court." How the hell did he do that?! Chris made me look like a stumbling uncoordinated looser, and I was so not like Tyler! How could such a scrawny guy pack such a punch?

"Throwing balls, gee, another mentally challenging test." mocked Noah, rolling his eyes.

"I know, right?" Lindsey said, leaning over to him. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It wasn't her fault she was born lacking a brain.

"Okay now Geoff, try to hit me." Chris said to him, tossing a ball his way. Oh sure, _of course _he caught it. I bet he didn't put any force behind that one now did he? Jerk. "If your holding a ball you can use it to deflect a ball. But, if it knocks the ball out of our hands," Chris dropped the ball. "then your out."

"What do I do again when the ball comes at me?" asked Lindsey, scrunching up her face in confusion. Just as she asked Geoff hurled his ball back at Chris.

"You dodge!" Chris yelled, as he deflected Geoff's ball with his own, which ricocheted off of it, going back the opposite way and hitting Lindsey in the face. She flew backwards, landing on her head.

"Ohhhh. You were supposed to _dodge._" Chris explained to her once again, emphasizing each syllable sharply.

"Owwww." Lindsey moaned, getting up and rubbing her head, now bearing a huge lump in between her eyebrows.

"You have one minute until game time. Gopher's, you'll have to sit one member out each game." Chris announced to us all.

"Okay, we can't get lazy. The Killer Bass are going to be trying extra hard to catch up this time, so who wants to sit this one out with sleeping beauty here?" Heather asked, taking control of the team. Umm, hello, did she not realize the Bass were standing right here? Although with our current team I couldn't blame her. But damn it, I was going to whip these losers into shape just to shove it in her face!

"All right, I'll volunteer." Noah said right away, happy to get out of playing, and possible hit in the face. "Now let's see all you keeners get out there and dodge!" he smiled at us and pointed, trying to be smooth. _Trying_ being the key word there.

All of us lined up on the court, Geoff, Bridgett, and Sadie had volunteered to sit on the sidelines first, and were on the edges of their seats in anticipation.

"Bring it on fishys," Heather taunted, motioning for us to come forward by curling her fingers, "otherwise winning three in a row just won't be as satisfying."

"Oh, you going _down_!" yelled Tyler, and I could just tell he was going to say something stupid next. "We're gonna bring dinner to the table and eat it too!"

_Oh god_. I smacked my palm to my forehead and shook my head from side to side in embarrassment for him, seeing as he didn't seem to be capable of being embarrassed for himself.

"Both teams ready?" Chris asked, but didn't actually wait for a response. "Best out of five games wins. Now, let's dodge some ball!" The whistle blew, and then the game began.

Both teams cheered for their sides as we picked up our balls. Katie, Tyler, and I had grabbed the three on our side, and Heather, Owen and Cody for the Gophers. Cody threw the first ball, narrowly missing Tyler, who, aiming for revenge, threw his ball back at Cody. Only, he wound it up with too much force in such a dramatic way that it came no where near him, hitting Sadie who was on the bleachers instead, knocking her off her seat. I resisted the urge to smack my head again.

"That'll smear the makeup." Chris commented. _So_ not helping.

"Nice job. Now lets see if you can hit someone on THEIR TEAM!" I yelled at him, thrusting another ball into his hands. Just as I did this, Owen ran to the line, throwing his ball at Tyler with as much force as someone as out of shape as him could muster. Tyler's eyes grew wide, as the ball hurtled towards him. It hit right in the gut, plastering him back against the wall before he slowly slid down.

"Owww, darn it!" he cried, clutching his sides as he peeled himself up of the floor, and went over to the bleachers to sit besides Sadie. Chef blew the whistle, signaling that someone had been tagged out of the game.

"Time to unleash my inner ninja." Harold said in that raspy voice of his.

"Bring it string bean! Lets see what you got." replied Lashawna, crossing her arms over her chest. Harold attempted to do some kind of weird semi-ninja looking thing, slamming the ball onto the ground in front of him, where it bounced straight up, and landed on our side, slowly rolling until it crossed over to theirs. Lashawna picked up the ball, an evil look crossing her face.

"AAHHHHHHHHH!" Harold screamed, so high pitched it sounded remarkably like a 3 year old girl's. Lashawna threw the ball and it hit him with perfect precision, slamming him into the wall in a rather painful looking position. Chris cringed on the sidelines and Chef blew the whistle again.

"And that's how we do it!" Lashawna exclaimed, and her team cheered for her, as ours just groaned.

_Oh why couldn't we have gotten _her_ on our team?_

Katie, now angry that we were loosing, pulled back her arm and aimed, ready for a promising throw.

"Can someone remind me what I'm supposed to do with this thing again?" Lindsey said, holding up a ball in her hand and walking to the center of the gym, just as Katie released her throw. It hit her right on the face, leaving another large bump on her cheek this time. She was starting to look like she had a skin deformity. But she didn't care, because she was now too busy staring at Tyler, as they waved at each other from opposite ends of the court.

Chef's whistle blew again, and our teammates were the ones cheering this time. Although not for long, because Heather had seen Lindsey waving and picked up a ball, throwing it and hitting Tyler right in the nuts.

"What the heck was that?" I yelled at Heather, then turned to Chef. "He wasn't even on the court!"

"Oppsies, slipped." Heather said, happy she had gotten her way. My face contorted with rage, as I let out a growl, picking up a ball and hurling it at her, and she shrank back, putting up her hands to prepare for the impact. It was a powerful shot, and it would have really done some damage too, if Owen hadn't ran up and blocked it with another ball.

The whistle was blown and I slumped off to the bleachers, knowing I was defeated.

I sat on the edge of my seat, never taking my eyes off the game. Even though I knew it was a lost cause at this point, I couldn't help but have some hope. Balls were thrown everywhere, one even hitting Gwen whet she wandered onto the court. It ended up being a really close game, and it came down to just DJ and Katie on our side, against Cody for the Gophers.

_Yes, we can actually win this! _I thought, my spirits picking up a bit. Cody wasn't exactly a pro when it came to all things physical.

"Easy out guys, easy out." I said in a cautioning tone, not wanting to blow this. We might not get a chance this good again.

But before anyone could make a throw for the Bass, Cody tossed his ball high in the air, caught it, smiled, and sent a hard throw straight at DJ, but he dodged it, thank god. I thought it was over, but then the ball came curving back around like a boomerang, hitting DJ from behind.

"That is one tough ball to dodge!" Chris said, shocked as everyone else that Cody could throw like that.

Katie, not wanting to be his next target, threw her ball straight at him, but he dodged it. Unlike Cody's, her ball didn't hook back around, giving him the upper hand. He rubbed the ball he was holding against his sweater, giving it a visible static cling, and threw it directly at Katie. She turned around and ran, but the charge on the ball caused it to follow her. She ran in circles around the court, but it followed her everywhere. She looked back at the ball, trying to get it off her tail, but didn't see that she was running towards the wall. Her body slammed into the wall, the ball catching up with her and hitting her back, causing us to lose the game. Chef blew his whistle again, and all the Gophers broke out into cheers

_Our two best dodge ball players just got creamed. By Cody._ We needed a new plan, and fast, if we even had a chance at winning this thing, but as hard as I thought I was drawing a blank. The only player we had who would be fierce enough to win this game was fast asleep on the bleachers. And it was all thanks to Harold.

"We can do this!" Harold said, punching his fist up into the air. "We just have to believe in ourselves." Now that just pissed me off. If it weren't for his snoring we might be winning right now!

"Oh, I believe." I said, putting my hands on my hips. "I believe you STINK!" I leaned towards him getting up in his face, the same way he had done to me earlier, which was a bad idea, because I got an up close view of his oily, acne ridden skin. Yuck.

"Yeah, you throw like a girl!" Tyler commented, causing Geoff to break out laughing.

"You should talk!" I snipped at him. The guy was just an accident waiting to happen!

"It was a warm up throw." He defended. Yeah right. "Look, I can dominate this game; just give all the balls to me." Just then Chef blew the whistle, leaving us with no time left to strategize further.

"Fine, just try to aim for the other side, okay?" I agreed, figuring it didn't really matter; we were going to lose the game anyways.

We started out the game this time with Katie, Sadie, Geoff, Bridgett, and Tyler on the field. Tyler was currently holding all four balls in his hands, ready to throw them. When the whistle blew, he spun around in circles, releasing all of the balls one by one from his grasp. The first hit Chef in the gut, and the second would have hit Chris right in the face if he hadn't ducked in time.

"HEY! Watch the face, dude!" Chris yelled at Tyler. I couldn't blame him; I hadn't jumped off that cliff for the same reason. But I couldn't help but feel happy that Chris was getting a little taste of the hell he was putting us through.

The third ball headed towards the other teams bleachers, all of the Gophers scattering before the ball could hit them. And the fourth, well, lets just say after this challenge Lindsey's face wasn't going to look so pretty any more.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Tyler, his arms reaching out towards Lindsey. What was going on between those two anyways?

"Finally!" I complained, throwing my hands up in the air. I was just happy that he had managed to hit someone _not_ on our team after four throws.

Tyler, however, completely forgot about the game, or that he had just given us the upper hand, and rushed over to Lindsey. He offered her a his hand and helped her up off the floor.

"Oh my god, my face! How's my face?" Lindsey asked franticly. Tyler looked at it and cringed before pulling his expression together and responding to her questing.

"Its… not that bad. You still look great." He was totally lying, because she now had three large bumps on her face, making her look absolutely hideous. I would have thought the moment was sweet, if it weren't for the fact that we were still in the middle of a game.

"Really?" Lindsey asked him, a hopeful look crossing her face.

"Really." Tyler was so caught up in looking at Lindsey, that he didn't see Trent walk up to him and tap him with the ball.

_Oh my god, we are so screwed. _I slumped my shoulders and stood there with my mouth hanging open, and once again smacked my palm to my forehead.

"Wanna go for a walk?" What the hell?! He didn't even care that he just lost our team a player!

"Okay!" Lindsey replied enthusiastically. The two walked off, hand in hand, leaving both me and Heather shocked. I was a bit disturbed to have something in common with her.

"What are you doing?!" she called out to Lindsey, pissed at her even though her team was winning. "Get back here! You are _so_ close to being out of the alliance."

"Great gaspy that is it! Game on!" Owen yelled, and went on a mad rampage. He yelled as he grabbed the balls out of his teammate's hands, hurling them over the line at our team. Before we even had a chance to react, Owen had already knocked down all of our players, and we lost the game in a matter of seconds.

"Oooooo, that one's worth an instant replay." Chris said, talking about how Geoff had just gotten smacked in the face with one of Owen's balls, almost losing a tooth.

"Oooooooooooo, he dropped it like it was hot!" Lashawna said, just as the whistle was blown again, making our loss official. I looked at our team, all lying down on the floor, and realized we were never going to win this. We didn't have the motivation like Owen, or the viciousness we needed.

"Hey!" Heather called over to our team. "It's two to zero. How does it feel to be suck so much?"

"Not very good." Harold admitted, slouching his shoulders. I glared at him with hands on my hips. You were never supposed to admit to defeat!

"It's not over yet!" I called over to the other team, a smile on my face like I believed it, but under my breath I whispered, "It is _so_ over." and smacked my head with my palm once more. Hmmmm...maybe they should make a Courtney action figure and every time you push the button I smack my forehead. Wait, what? Hold on there Court maybe you _have_ been hitting your head to much.

Both of the teams sat down on the bleachers, resting during our break before what seemed like it was going to be the final round. The challenge was hopeless for us unless we changed our strategy.

"Okay, this is bad. One more game and we loose the challenge. Again." I stood up, really getting into my speech. "We can't let that happen people! What we need is someone strong, someone mean, someone who will crush those looser Gophers into the dirt!"

_We need someone who is ruthless, and not afraid to kick the snot out of the other team. Someone hardcore, that can tell us what to do and whip us into shape. Someone who could kick some Gopher ass!_

_What we need is Duncan._ I hated to admit it but it was our only hope. I looked over at him sleeping on the bench, and thought back to his warning.

_This is so not going to be fun._

Everyone else followed my gaze, just from that little speech knowing that it was Duncan we needed.

"Uh-uh. No way. If we wake him up he'll kill us." DJ said, shaking his head.

"He wont' kill us guys; he wants to win too." I explained. Sure, he might get really pissed and come close to ripping our heads off at first, but once we got the chance to explain he would help. He wanted to win a challenge just as much as me, even if he didn't show it. Otherwise, why would he have pt himself of all the misery of staying up for 3 days straight? Even he wasn't that emotionless. Plus, his pride was at stake here, and he had his reputation to maintain.

"Courtney's right, we need Duncan's fierceness to win this." Harold said. I was happy to have s_omeone_ on my side, even if it was Harold.

"That's the spirit Harold! Now go wake him up." I may have wanted to win but I wasn't stupid. No way was I going to be the one to wake him. I'd rather not die, thanks.

"Why me?" Harold asked, apparently not as stupid as I thought he was.

"Because, other then Trent, you the _worst_ at dodge ball. And if he does kill you, you're the only one we can afford to loose." I explained to him.

"No way, I'm not doing it!"

"Well, whose gonna wake him up?" I asked, and as I looked around at everybody, I could tell that none of them were willing to do it. I needed a different approach. "Hold on guys, I've got another idea."

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Duncan POV

I woke up to the feel of something poking me in the butt, but I decided to ignore it, and just go back to sleep. But then I felt it poke me again, and this time it was up my nose.

I grabbed whatever was poking me with an iron grip,then jumped up off the bench and onto my feet, breaking the twig that I had grabbed in half effortlessly.

"You better have a really good reason for sticking this up my nose." I said to Harold, walking over to him and pointing at his chest, all while glaring at him. I swear he looked like he was about to pee his pants again.

"Look," Courtney said, squeezing in front of Harold to face me, looking perfectly calm. "we're down two nothing. I can appreciate that you need a little naptime, but we need your help." She putt her hands on her hips, trying to act all stern. Like I was really going to help her. I had just stayed up for _4 days_ all to try and help them with the last challenge. It was their turn to go through hell to win something.

"Oh, and why should I help you, _Darling_?" I asked her, crossing my arms across my chest and looking her up and down. I had to admit from this close up Princess looked pretty damn hot.

" Because," she started, being all sugary sweet, and I could tell she had a good comeback coming. "I can personal guarantee you that if we loose this game, you'll be the one going home, _Darling._" She retorted, leaning in close to me near the end. Damn it! She was good, I would give her that. I knew she was telling the truth, because if she had drive she _could _convince everyone to send me home. Even if I was an asset to the team, she hated me enough that she'd be happy I was gone. Unless I wanted to go back to juvi empty handed, I had no choice but to help them win. It's a good thing dodge ball was such a popular prison sport.

"Fine I'll play." I sighed, but then my voice got stronger. "But on one condition. You do what I say, when I say it." She nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, here's a strategy I picked up on my first visit to juvi. It's called, rush the new guy". I smiled sadistically and pounded my fist into my other palm. It was an idiot proof strategy, as I had learned from winning so many games with Max and Eric. If those two could win with it, so could the Bass. And best of all there was no one carrying around a stupid wrench to ruin it. "All of us target one person at a time, and pick the other team off one by one, till there's no one left. Got it?" Everyone nodded their heads in understanding, too afraid speak up to me, just the way I liked it.

Chef blew the whistle, which I assumed meant that our break was over, and it was time to play.

"Come on, let's go kick some Gopher ass!" Courtney cried, grabbing my arm and dragging me out on the court.

"Hey, hands off, Princess." I told her, trying to yank my arm out of her grasp, but failing. Courtney could really be strong when she wanted to, which was kind of scary. And hot.

Courtney dropped my arm as soon as we were on the court, putting her hands on her hips, and I did the same. We glanced over at each other, and she was smiling, sure the plan would work. Geoff, one of those twins (I think it was Katie, but I wasn't sure.), and DJ all walked up next to us, all coming to stand in a line, waiting for game to start so we could put my strategy into action. On the other team, the Gophers were tossing their balls up and down in their hands, trying to intimidate us, but it wasn't working.

The whistle was blow again, and almost instantaneously, Justin and Lashawna threw their balls at Courtney and me, but we ducked in unison, and both of them missed us, instead hitting the back wall. Katie (I think) picked both of them up and tossed the balls to Courtney. I tilted my head towards Owen, to signal that he was our target. Geoff, DJ, Courtney, and I all threw our balls together at him, and his face contorted with fear, as the balls pelted him, one after the other, knocking him out. The Gophers all crowded around him, looking down at Owen passed out on the floor. The whistle was blown, and all of the Bass burst out into cheers around me. Courtney and Katie started jumping up and down, hugging each other, and DJ and Geoff high fived. I on the other hand just stood there with a smirk on my face, entirely smug about the win.

_Those Gophers are going down._

We all picked up the balls again, this time targeting Lashawna . And after that, we got Izzy, then Beth, and finally Justin, causing us to win the game. The Bass broke out into cheers again, the people sitting on the benches coming onto the court to congratulate the players. This challenge was going to be an easy win now that I had been put in charge. After everyone calmed down, we all huddled on the sideline to once again talk strategy.

"I think we should do the same thing all over again." Courtney said, taking the lead, like always. "So Harold, sit this one out."

"But I sat the last one out!" he complained to her.

"It's for the good of the team." She explained to him, and Harold hung his head low, sad about not getting picked. Geoff patted his back sympathetically as he moped. But I could care less about him, too into winning the game now to care.

The whistle blew again, and we did the same thing as last time, taking out Justin, Trent, and Izzy first. By the time we took out Beth, Heather came back in the room with Lindsey and Tyler in tow ( they must have left when I was sleeping), and I could only guess at what the two were doing. I had to give the guy some props for getting some action with a girl whose jugs were the size of watermelons.

Heather did _not_ look happy as she looked out over the court, and her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw us take out Lashawna, wining yet another game. Chef blew the whistle, and the Bass whooped and hollered in victory. All we needed was one more game and the challenge was ours. Piece of cake.

Over on the sidelines, Courtney was glaring at Tyler, probably about being gone with Lindsey. She was scolding him loud enough that I could hear her over all of the cheering.

"Where were you?!" she asked him in a shrill voice.

"No where!" he claimed, but I knew Courtney was too controlling to just stop there, and I was right.

"You were with that Gopher girl, weren't you?" Courtney narrowed her eyes at him, her hands now on her hips.

"No! Maybe. So!?" This guy wouldn't last two minutes in juvi.

"So, she could have been getting you to spill all of your weaknesses to her!" I looked over at Lindsey and held back a laugh. She was currently using her hands as puppets, and making them have a conversation with each other. I couldn't believe Courtney had actually said that. Not only was Lindsey about as smart as a lamppost, but in order for Tyler to spill all his weaknesses, her had to actually have some talents too. The guy was an uncoordinated looser; everything about him was a weakness.

"Okay, this is it," Chris announced to us all, causing everyone's cheers and side conversation to halt. "the final tie-breaking game! "

Hearing this, our team all gathered into a huddle to talk strategy, desperate to finally win a challenge. I sauntered over instead, trying to maintain my indifferent image, thought inside, I was really wanted to win just as bad as the rest of them. Courtney's motivation was starting to rub off on me.

"Okay, who's going in!?" I said a bit too eagerly. Oh screw it, who cares if they knew I wanted to win anyways?

"I think it's my turn." Harold complained to us.

"No way!" Courtney shot back at him from the other side of our circle. "We actually have a chance to win this!" Harold nodded his head in understanding and reluctantly went to sit down on the bleachers.

"I say we send in me, Courtney, Katie, Geoff and DJ. Any objections?" I asked, and everyone nodded there heads, still too afraid to defy me.

"Gophers, Bass, let's send this sample to the lab and see watchu made of!" Chris exclaimed, pumping his fist. Geoff snickered under his breath and I just shock my head. Could his writers have come up with a line any cheesier?

The whistle was blown, and then all hell broke loose. The Gophers made a killer comeback (ironic since we were the Killer Bass right?) and balls flew everywhere. We had to abandon my rush the new guy strategy, as it was every man for himself. Some people got hit while others caught balls, sending opponents out and allowing them to bring other players back in. Throughout the game, so many teammates were brought in and out that everyone had gotten a turn on the field. Well, except Harold of course, and Noah on the other team. If we won this he was sure to get voted off.

After what seemed like forever, we only had three players left, and so did the Gophers. Everyone could feel the game was close to ending, and we were going to win this thing if it killed my. I'd put too much effort onto this to loose now. And then, Geoff had to go and ruin it.

He caught one of the other teams throws and handed a now excited Harold the ball, putting in the game King Dork himself. We were so loosing this.

"Back of the court, Princess." I told him, pointing to the back wall. His face fell as he walked over to the wall. Maybe if he was out of the action of the game he wouldn't be able to screw anything up.

Unfortunately, Courtney turned around to look at him, and Gwen took advantage of it, hitting her in the face with a ball. In any normal dodge ball game, that would be illegal, but of course, it wasn't on Total Drama Islands. Stupid ratings-hungry producers.

"That's for the oatmeal!" Gwen exclaimed.

_So that's what flew by my head this morning. Courtney really does have a bad side. _I'd have to figure out how to bring it out more often.

Lashawna broke out into laughter and high fived Gwen. "You messed with the wrong white girl!" she said, and then went on to hit Geoff in the face. I was so busy watching the whole thing that I didn't notice the two balls heading my way, and got hit from both sides.

More balls were thrown until it was only Harold and Owen left in the game. Owen smiled over to the other side of the court at Harold, knowing this would be an easy win.

_Oh we are so screwed. I have to remember to go and kill Geoff later._

The Gophers cheered as I sat there with a shocked look on my face, like the rest of our team. Except for Courtney, who just looked downright pissed.

_Or maybe I won't have to kill Geoff myself…_ I was really starting to like Courtney's bad side. It was pretty sexy.

"Sorry dude, but you've got to go down." Owen said, pulling out four balls from behind his back.

"Goodnight Harold." I said, smacking my palm to my forehead. So much for wining the challenge.

Out on the court, Harold did some weird looking kung fu move, and beckoned Owen with his fingers. Owen just shrugged his shoulders and ran towards the center line, hurling three of his balls at Harold.

I couldn't believe what happened next, and it put me in a state of total and utter shock. Harold stepped out of the path of the first ball, jumped over the second, and did a backbend to avoid the third, all with perfect, what's the word,_ grace_. It was weird and awesome at the same time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Courtney break out into a huge smile.

"Time out, time out!" she called, leaping out of her seat in excitement, realizing we actually had a chance to win this.

Harold walked over to the sidelines and sat down, and DJ massaged his shoulder as Bridgett offered him water, Tyler holding up a bucket for him to spit it out in.

"Man, that boys got dodge!" I said, impressed with him. "Where'd you learn to do that?" Bridgett squirted water in his mouth, and he spit it out, completely missing the bucket Tyler was holding, instead hitting him right in the face.

_Well, he may have dodge, but he sucks at aiming. _Hopefully he was good enough will the ball to hit Owen.

"Figure skating." Oh god, what a dork. That must have been where the whole graceful thing came from.

"Harold, that was _awesome!" _Geoff told him, giving a fist pump. "But dodging isn't enough."

"He's right, to win this you have to throw him out."Courtney explained.

"Which we all know you can't do." I piped in.

"Or catch the ball. Can you do it?" Courtney asked, obviously having noticed the water aiming thing too.

"Defiantly!" he said, Bridgett giving him water again. But when he went to spit it out it once again hit Tyler's face.

_Oh god, I can't watch this._ Harold was _so_ not skilled enough to win this thing.

"Awesome!" DJ cried, slapping Harold on the back. "Go catch that ball!"

Harold walked out on to the field, staring down Owen before the game started.

"Harold! Harold! Harold!" we all chanted in unison, pumped up now that we actually had a chance at winning again.

"Kow-a-BUNGAAAAA!" Owen yelled, winding up his arm for the throw, and running down the court before releasing the ball. It zoomed towards Harold at top speed, knocking him all the way to the back wall. He slid down it at snails pace, before landing on the ground. I held my breath, and sprang out of my seat, not able to take the suspense to see if he had caught it. And then, Harold held up the ball in his hand, and all of our team broke out into defining cheers, all overjoyed to have won our first challenge.

"And the Killer Bass win!" Chris called out. Man, did it feel good for him to finally say those words.

"It's impossible! WHYYYYYYYYYY!?" Owen cried, falling down onto his knees and sobbing. Tough luck. We won suckers!

DJ and me picked up Harold and carried him out on our shoulders, every one else following behind

"Nice dodge skater nerd." I said to Harold on the way out.

Man, did it feel good to win.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

After the challenge, I took a quick shower (the Axe mixed with my smell was starting to become unbearably bad at this point) and then went straight back to the cabin and got some sleep, before Harold could keep me up again with his snoring tonight. By the time I woke up, everyone was already in the Main Lodge for dinner, so I headed over there myself. I desperately wanted to sleep more, but my late afternoon nap had already screwed up my sleeping schedule as it was. I had to stay up if I had any chance at falling back asleep tonight.

When I got to the lodge, Chef had already closed the kitchen, which meant I wasn't getting dinner. Not that I minded though; no one ever looked forward to one of his meals. Then again, Owen probably did.

I walked over to the coffee dispenser, knowing I would need a caffeine boost if I was going to make it these last few hours. And there, filling up what I swear had to be her fifth cup of coffee (or possible more, since I had slept through half the day), was no other then Courtney.

"Whoa, coffee addict much?" I said, but I wasn't expecting such a violent reply.

"WHY DOES EVERYONG KEEP SAYING THAT!?!" she shrieked, stomping off to her seat.

_Looks like someone's in denial._

I got my cup of coffee and sat down at the Gophers table. After our win, everyone was unusually happy, and when I sat down they were already in the middle of a conversation.

"Well, I think we should go out by the lake and dance under the stars!" Katie exclaimed animatedly.

"Yeah! That's perfect!" agreed Sadie, like always. Why the hell did the have to agree on _everything_? Their peppiness was really getting on my nerves.

"Well, what about a beach bonfire? That'd be pretty sweet too." Tyler suggested, earning some whops and hollers from some of his teammates.

"Awesome, party on the beach, dudes!" Geoff called out, banging knuckles with Tyler.

"No way, a dance party is better!" Katie argued back.

"Nu-uh. The bonfire idea is kickin'!" defended Tyler, slamming his palm down on the table.

"Dancing!"

"Bonfire!"

"Dancing!"

"BONFIRE!"

"DANCING!"

"Hey, whoa, hold up a sec. Would someone please explain what the hell we're talking about?" I asked everyone, looking around the table. I knew my mind should have already pieced together an answer at this point, but the coffee hadn't kicked in yet, and my brain processing power had yet to speed up from lethargic.

"We wanna have a party to celebrate our win!" Courtney said, a bit jumpy. Looks like those five cups of coffee had gotten to her.

"Hey, Courtney, maybe you should ease back a bit on the coffee." Geoff told her in a concerned voice.

"I'm FINE!" she snipped back at him as she slammed her cup down on the table, her eye twitching slightly. She was defiantly not fine. "I'm just excited about our win, that's all." I looked at the coffee she had sent down and reached out my hand, knocking it off of table and into the trash can. The cup made a loud _sploosh_, causing Courtney to whip her head around, see her coffee was now gone, and glare at me.

"Hey! You knocked over my coffee!"

"Opps, sorry, good thing the trash can was there to catch it." I said in my most relaxed voice. Courtney just glared at my, silently seething. However, she didn't get up to get more coffee, instead just silently eating Chef's sad (and possible deadly) excuse of a dinner.

"Anyways," Geoff said, breaking the awkward silence that had developed. "back to the party!"

"Actually, I've got an idea." I said, a smile slowly creeping its way onto my face. "But, it will involve a bit of sneaking around."

"Awesome man, lets do it!" Tyler exclaimed, happy to be involved in anything that would show off his skills or at leas the skills he thought he had).

"Alright, so here's what we need to do…"

"Got the drinks?" I asked to the group.

"Got 'em" Geoff said, he and Bridgett holding up the cooler of sodas Chris always kept in the kitchen, but never let us touch.

"Cameras?"

"Don't worry, we got them covered." Tyler told me, snickering along with DJ and the high fived. I turned to look at the camera on the flag pole, only to see that it was covered up by a pair of Harold's undies.

_Haha, nice job guys._

"Music."

"Right here!" Sadie called out, holding up an iPod classic, and Katie carrying an iHome next to her.

"Alright, then lets go!" Everyone let out some enthusiastic cries, as we all headed over to the Gophers cabin, clad in our bathing suits. The Gophers were all at the campfire ceremony, along with Chris and his crew, which meant we had the camp to ourselves for the next hour (thanks to all of Chris's dramatic pauses that drew it out longer). My big idea was to use the Gophers hot tube for celebration, maybe even doing something like dying the water after we were done with it. Although, to do that, I had to convince a certain someone to live a little first.

"I don't know about this guys." Courtney said, still skeptical of the whole idea.

"Oh, come on Princess." I said, putting my arm around my shoulder. "Live a little! Besides, it's not like anyone's using the hot tub tonight. And don't tell me your worried that Chris will no longer have his precious sodas to torment us with." She just glared at me, and shook my arm off her shoulder.

"No, but it's just, what at we get caught?"

"What, you think Heather is going to come and beat us to death with her flat iron?" I asked her jokingly

"No, well, yes, but it's still breaking the rules!" Okay, I could see Heather doing that too, but it was still beside the point.

"Oh, come on, Chris won't care, and it doesn't matter, because we aren't gonna get caught. I'm a pro at this kind of stuff, remember?" At this point we had reached the hot tube, so I took off my shirt, and hopped in, relaxing in the hot water.

"Oh come on Courtney, just hop in! The water's great!" Bridgett said to her, which caused Courtney's decision to sway a little.

"Oh, alright, fine." She started taking off her cover up, checking over her shoulder every two seconds like Chris was going to come popping out of nowhere and bust her, until finally she was in.

"Wow, this feels _incredible." _she exhaled, sinking deeper into the water, and for the first time since I had met her, she actually looked relaxed.

"Hey, somebody put on some music already!" Tyler complained from the other side of the hot tube. Hearing this, Katie put on a Fall Out Boy song, blasting the volume all the way up. It wasn't my first choice of bands, but I could live with it.

Geoff and Bridgett started passing out sodas to everyone, and you could hear the numerous _pop_s of the cans all opening.

"To the Killer Bass, and our _sick_ win this afternoon!" Geoff said, raising up his can for a toast.

"To the Killer Bass!" we all said in unison, holding up our cans and taking a swig.

For the next hour, all of us talked and laughed, having a genuinely good time. It was nice to just relax and not have the stress of having to attend another campfire ceremony. We were acting less like teammates, and more like just, well, friends. The music was blasting, and some people actually got out of the hot tub to dance, like Geoff, Bridgett, and Tyler (or at least I think it was dancing. He tripped and fell into a bush after about 10 seconds of it.) as we cheered them all on. It was fun, and I was glad we were all having such a great time. But then Harold had to go and end it all.

We saw the eruption of bubbles before got a whiff of the smell. Everyone groaned and ewwed as we all jumped out of the hot tub, no longer wanting to sit in Harolds fart contaminated water.

"Harold!" Courtney yelled, jumping up out of the water.

"Hey, it wasn't me!" he defended. Yeah right.

After that, we didn't get back into the hot tub (and we also weren't intending on telling the Gophers what Harold had done in there), instead we changed into our clothes and started a bonfire out on the beach, Tyler got his way after all. We continued to talk in the glow of the fire, and even roasted a few marshmallows Bridgett had happened to bring with her.

"Hey, do you guys want to start up a game of Truth or Dare?" Bridgett suggested after a while, popping her marshmallow off her stick and into her mouth.

"Yes! I _love _truth or dare!" Katie shrieked, smiling broadly.

"Me too!" I bet you can guess who said that one. With them here, I didn't think I was going to end up liking this game too much.

"Awesome! Bring on the dares dude!" Tyler exclaimed, jumping up of the ground and shooting a fist up in the air.

_Then again, maybe this will be interesting…_

"Well, I guess that's a yes, so who wants to go first?" Geoff asked, looking around at all of us, who had now sat down in a circle near the fire, to play the game.

"I will!" Sadie cried, jumping up and down like a spaz. "Hmmmmmmm… DJ! Truth or Dare?" DJ paused to think about the pros and cons of each opption, hesitating before giving his answer.

"I choose… truth." he replied, looking wary. Taking the easy way out, figures. I liked the guy but he was a total chicken. That hat had fit him well.

"Lets see… what's the scariest thing you've ever done?" Okay, this was lame. Why couldn't they just get rid of truth and just call the freaking game dare?

"Well, there was this one time when I was ten, and we had this party at the zoo and we go to hold all of the cute animals and stuff. It was real fun, until the animal guy brought out the snakes, and set one on my shoulder. It was just so crawly and scaly and I just couldn't take it man! I ran out of the room but I couldn't get the thing off my shoulders. It was creepy, yo. I don't like snakes."

"Laa-aame" Tyler said, saying what I'm sure all of us guys were thinking. "Let's get to the dares!"

"Alright Tyler," said DJ, a smile coming onto his face. "I dare you to go and steal Heather's make up bag." Oh man, for a chicken DJ was good! By this point the Gophers were already back in their cabins sleeping, and if Tyler got caught Heather was sure to rip his head off. This was gonna be good.

"All right!" Tyler exclaimed, jumping up and heading over to the Gopher's cabin. We all waited in silence as we watched him climb through the window, and held our breath, waiting to hear someone wake up and start screaming, but it never happened. He emerged from the cabin thirty seconds later, carrying a pink bag. He jogged back over to the fire, waving the bag around in the air in victory.

"I got it!" he said, out of breath when he got back to the fire. He dropped the bag on the ground, and sure enough, a cascade of make up came tumbling out.

"Nice dude!" Geoff said, high fiving him, only Tyler was too spent, and the force of Geoff's hand proved to be enough to knock him to the ground. Once he caught his breath, he brushed himself off and sat upright again.

"Okay, my turn to pick." Tyler said, excited that now he was getting to pick the dare. "Geoff, truth or dare?"

"Definitely dare, dude!" Geoff said, getting pumped up for whatever stunt he was going to come up with.

"Okay, I dare you to… moon Chef!" Tyler cracked up laughing at this, and Geoff looked skeptical. "Unless you wanna chicken out, that is."

"No way, not gonna happen." Geoff got up and walked over to the kitchen, to see if Chef was still cleaning up. Apparently he was, because the next thing Geoff did was pull down his pants and turn his butt towards the window.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF- YOU BETTER RUN YOU SUCKA!" Chef yelled out the window, and it reverberated throughout the camp. Geoff took that as his cue to take off running. I swear I had never seen anyone run so fast, Chef following close behind him as they ran into the woods. I cracked up laughing at this, earning me a glare that could melt ice caps from Courtney, which shut me up.

"Do you think he's gonna make it?" DJ asked, just as Geoff came running out of the woods, Chef no longer chasing after him. Next to me, I heard Bridgett let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, now it's my turn." Geoff said, sitting down, a smile plastered on his face. "Bridgett?" He raised an eyebrow at her, just taunting her to choose dare.

"Yeah, um, I think I'm going to have to choose truth after that one."

"Hmmm… I've got it! What's the most embarrassing, dangerous thing you've ever done?" Oh come on, that was so weak. But whatever, I knew he wasn't going to ask her anything embarrassing; he liked her too much.

"Oh, well that's easy." Bridgett told him. "One time, I went surfing in this major storm! I almost died from the tides, but those waves were so worth it. Definitely the most thrilling experience I've ever had." She paused to smile at the memory, the turned her gaze over to Courtney. "So Courtney, truth or dare?" Courtney didn't hesitate all in giving her answer, sounding totally confident in herself.

"Dare." She said, with a cocky smile. There was no way she was going to take the easy way out after not jumping the cliff that first day; she was just too stubborn like that.

"I dare you to," she paused, turning her gaze over to me now. "kiss Duncan!" My eyebrows shot up to high that it was a miracle they were still attached to my face. I couldn't believe Bridgett had chosen that. With how firmly she delivered the lines, she must have been planning it for awhile too. I wonder if that dare was the whole reason she had suggested the game in the first place.

"WHAT?!?" Courtney shrieked, even more shocked then I was. "I thought we were supposed to be friends!"

"Oh come on Princess, I don't bite" I said, giving her a smirk. "Unless of course you wanna be a chicken?" I knew that comment would push her over the edge, and I was right.

"Oh fine!" She grabbed a hold of my shoulders, pulling me in towards her, giving me a quick kiss. On my cheek.

"No way, that's cheating!" Geoff accused, but of it was useless. This was Courtney he was fighting with after all. She never lost an argument, except to me of course.

"She just said I had to _kiss_ him, not that it had to be on the lips." she replied smugly, as she spat in the sand, trying to get the taste of my cheek out of her mouth.

"Hey, guys, I'm going back to the cabin to catch some z's. I'm getting' tired." DJ broke in, yawning.

"Us too." said Katie, stretching her arms over her head like Sadie, as they got up to leave.

"Same here, do you just want to call it a night? " Bridgett asked, yawning herself.

"Aww man, I hate ending parties!" Geoff complained, slumping his shoulders. And with that, we all got up to leave, putting out our fire and heading over to the cabins.

I still had about a good hour left until my coffee wore off, so I decided to head over to this awesome spot on one of the island's cliffs, that I found my first night here. I stopped at the cabin, grabbing my iPod and turned up the volume to a deafening level as I walked to the cliff.

After a good 20 minute hike, I broke through the trees and emerged at my spot, and you'll never guess who I saw, sitting there looking up at the stars.

"Hey, Princess."

"DUNCAN?!!?"

* * *

**A/N: my first cliff hanger!!! although it may not feel like it to you buut it is to my cuz i noe what happens next! the next chap will take awhile cuz om off to film camp this saturday, sry. anyways, review please! i luv noeing that people actually enjoy reading this, and it gives me the drive to keep wirting instead of focusing all of my energy on scriptwriting :)**

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	10. Starry Nights and Water Balloon Fights

**A/N: I am so so so so so so so sorry!!!!!!! I have been at film camp and running on 4 hours a sleep a night to get my video finish and haven't had any time at all to write!!! Also, I would just like to say, if you want to help me win the camp contest please watch my awesome video cuz whoever's video gets the most view on youtube wins a prize!!!**** Just type in 'Not Yet Marlowe' when you search youtube and it should be the first video you see. i'll also put the link on my profile. Okay, so this chap had a lot of gooy cheezy romance so I think you'll all like it a lot :)**** and quite also might be extremely pissed at what happens, but in a good way. But no worries, cuz it the next chap is extreamly long (im talking 1.5 longer then the big sleep here) and extra juicy to make up for it. only problem is i might not get wifi to post it for another two weeks cuz im camping.**

**Btw, I wasn't planning on revealing court's identity till later on, but because one of my reviews requested it, it will happen very soon cuz I think it's a great idea! All I will tell you is it is in the next few chaps.**

**also, i would just like to ask, is anyone else seriously pissed at how little DxC there was in Ocean's Eight or Nine? they made us wait that long and it wasn't even satisfyiing! plus, they made courtney seem rly mean, like she is going to become an antagonist. and now after all that teletoon won't release the next episode!!! sry for the rant but that just rly pissed me off.**

**Anyways, plz read and enjoy!!!**

* * *

Star Filled Nights and Water Balloon Fights

Courtney POV

"What are _you _doing _here_?!" I shrieked, sitting bold upright, my body stiffening at the sight of him. Nu-uh, no way, he could _not_ be here. This was my spot, all _mine_. _I_ had found it so _I_ was going to be the one to get to use it. There was _no way_ I was letting his stay here and ruin my _one place_ of peace and quite on the god forsaken show. I found it first, so _he_ was going to be the one to leave, and I'll be damned if he thought I was actually going to let him stay here. _It was my spot!_

"What, no 'How was your day Honey?'" he said sarcastically, walking farther into the clearing. God I hated him.

"This is _my _spot, which means _you_ need to leave!" I screeched, ignoring his comment completely.

"And just what makes this spot yours? " he questioned, lifting up his arms and raising an eyebrow at me " I don't see any private property signs up here, not that that would stop me."

"Because, _I_ found it first!"

"Which would be when exactly?"

"The second day we were here!" I told him, crossing my arms over my chest smugly, knowing I had won the fight. Take that Duncan

"Oh really? Funny, because I found it on the first night."he argued back. Did he really think I was stupid enough to believe him without proof?

"Like I'm really going to believe _you_ of all people" I scoffed at him. What a liar. "Prove it."

"Okay then." He walked leisurely over to a tree, pointing to a small scull carved into its bark, that i recognized as his signature, a date under it matching to the day we arrived. "See?"

_Shit._

I froze, saying nothing, not sure how to respond to that one. He had just complete owned me.

Inside, I was cursing myself and silently fuming at him for ruining my perfect spot. I couldn't just _leave_, because that would mean he had won. He'd see right through any excuse I made for leaving, which only left me with one option. So I glared at him for a moment then laid back down on the grass, ignoring his presence and going back to looking at the stars. I got so lost in the mystique of it all that I didn't notice Duncan walk over until he was right besides me.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Duncan said, lying down next to me and crossing his arms behind his head.

"W-what?" I stuttered, completely stunned that he had opened his mouth and said something _without_ insulting anybody.

"The stars, you know, and just the vastness of it all. Kinda mind blowing, isn't it?" His eyes got this glazed over look, like he was dazzled by them. It was the same look I had probably had on a minute ago.

"Umm…. Yeah, it is." I said, still in shock from his weird behavior. I didn't think it was even possible for Duncan to have such a deep thought. Boys really need to come with a user's manual. "It's really alluring. We don't exactly see stars like this in the city. We get one, maybe two if we're lucky."

It was so weird to be having a philosophical conversation with _Duncan_ of all people. I didnt exactly expect him to be the type to want to sit and look up at the stars. But at the same time, talking with him was kind of nice. The people here weren't really all that bright, if you know what I mean (_cough-Lindsey_ –_cough_). It was a relief to finally have a semi deep conversation for once. For awhile we just sat there, staring off into the vast abbiss, until finally Duncan broke the silence.

"So, what drove someone like you to apply for this crazy show anyways?" he asked me, and immediately my body coursed with rage, my thoughts goint back to the blow up with my parents. "I know I'd much rather be in the city right now. It's like a freaking criminals heaven." I hadn't thought about my parents once since I got here, and I hadn't talked to them since our fight that night after my party. Even so, they probably even didn't realize I was gone. Duncan's question just brought all my previous rage at them to resurface, so it was no surprise my next words came out as though I wanted to murder Duncan.

"That's _none of your business!_" I snipped at him, a death glare on my face, specifically directed at him. However, being Duncan, he didn't even flinch.

"Whoa, just trying to make conversation Princess, not get you mad. Or at least not this time." That got a small laugh out of me before I went back to being pissed, but trying not to project my anger at him this time seeing as he was innocent. Well...as innocent as Duncan can get.

"Sorry, it's just, well, to say I hate my parents would be a major understatement." I sighed, trying to let my anger go, because there was nothing I could do about it here. But that plan wasn't working out too well.

"Yeah, I hate my folks too. No wait, I take that back, it's more like a mutual loathing." A look of hate suddenly came over his eyes, but only for a second, then he became the nonchalant guy he always was. It was the first flicker of emotion I'd ever seen in Duncan. It kind of made him seem a little bit more human.

"I know what you mean." My eyes were still looking up at the stars yet my mind was millions of miles away, replaying the blow up with my parents over and over again like I had that first night. "Why do all parents have to suck so much? Is it a universal law or something? Like when they hand you your kid they say 'Oh, and here's a guide on how to be the worst parents ever!'" Duncan laughed at this, and I joined in too after a few seconds, temporarily letting go of my rage, forgetting it with my laughter.

"What's so messed up with your parents anyways? You seem like every parents freaking dream child, little miss perfect. Have you ever even done anything immoral in your life?"

"That's the problem!" I cried throwing my hands up in the air, my rage now back and at its peak, but thankfully I didn't take it out on Duncan this time. "When I do everything right, they don't care because the expect it. But when I do _just one_ thing wrong, they go and cut me off, and from _my_ hard earned money! That's just not _fair_! Or ethical! It's only human to do something wrong, so it's like they took away my money for no reason at all. It's just like how Obama wants to raise the tax progression rate when all those people did was work really hard for their money!" My face was starting to get hot at this point, so I took a deep breath and tired to contort my face in what ended up being a rather stiff smile.

"Republican party?" Duncan asked, looking over at me.

"No, Independent. Both parties are royally screwed up."

"Damn right." He held up his knuckle to me and I hesitated before banging it with my own, shocked he was into something like that.

_Wait, did we just agree on something? _This was officially the strangest night of my life. You know something is wrong with government when a prep and a delinquent start agreeing.

"So what was this big scandal of yours anyways? Must have been pretty bad ass to piss of your parents that much." He smiled at me, and I started to blush, knowing that it wasn't anywhere near as bad as he was envisioning.

"Oh, it was stupid. I threw a party, and some idiots brought some beer. And I may have had _just a few_, before the party got busted by the cops. I didn't even bring the stuff and my parents threw a raging fit! I even had a ride home, so I wouldn't have been driving drunk, and I didn't do anything stupid while I was under the influence! At least, I don't think I did…" I tired to drudge back up memories of the night, but they were just too blurry, my brows scrunched up in thought as I tried to decipher them. Duncan started laughing at me, so hard that he was gasping for breath. I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "What?!"

"That's all you did? Man you really _are_ a goody two shoes!" he said once he had stopped laughing enough to talk, only to start back up again.

"Oh, and what exactly is it that _you_ do to piss your parents off so much?" I was so not a goody two shoes! But even if I was at least it was better then being a criminal!

"Let's just say there are a lot worse drugs out there then the alcohol in a few beers. Plus there was this whole Happy Nude Year stunt," he paused to laugh, "but you probably don't want to hear about that. Oh, and of course I steal random crap on a regular basis." He smiled at me all smug; I was beginning to recognize as a trademark of his.

"Ugg, I no wonder your parents hate you; I can't really blame them. What the hell is wrong with you anyways?"

"Hate to break this to you, but you're not exactly the easiest person to deal with either, Princess."

"What are you talking about? I am so easygoing!" What did he mean by that? I was totally nice! How dare he even think that. I was the perfect role model; why else would I have gotten the title of America's Sweetheart? I actually contemplated ruining my cover just to rub that little fact in his face, but decided against it in the end.

"You're a control freak _and_ have anger management issues. Especially when it comes to losing." At this point I was about to explode with anger at him. That whole stabbing Duncan to death idea seemed pretty appealing right now. But before I get a word out to give him a piece of my mind, he saw how angry I was and backtracked, explaining himself. "Not that it has to be a bad thing; it's just a bit difficult to work with. I mean, let's face it, we would have been crushed if you hadn't had the guts to wake me up and talk me into taking the lead in the dodge ball challenge. Plus, that whole hot tub building thing? Yeah, if you hadn't stepped up it would have been a pile of scraps by the time Harold and Tyler got through with it." then he paused, his tone once again becoming playfull "Actually, I think the whole dictatorship thing you got going is kinda hot." My first reaction to this was to blush, but then I quickly pulled it together, realizing this was _Duncan_ I was talking to after all. No longer hearing all the complements that came with the lime light must really be messing with me.

"Good." I said, with I triumphant smile. "But I still think you're just an outright freak."

"That's just me sweetheart." He said, and smiled right back at me, probably taking what I had said as a compliment. "And if you know what's good for you you'll start being a bit more freakish, learn to live a little, rebel against your parents like you do Chris. That's what I do. And just fyi, when it comes to my parents, it's not _me_ who had the problem, it's them. If they weren't so damn intent on making me another one of those perfect robot policemen like the rest of my family, maybe I wouldn't need to piss them off so much. Then again it's still insanely fun."

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but pissing off my parents sounds really fun right now." I admitted reluctantly, a landslide of malevolent thoughts entering my mind and making a temporary home there.

"Ha, yeah, too bad we're thousands of miles from home. Guess we'll just have to settle for Chris."

"And get kicked off the show, no thanks." He rolled my eyes at me, and scoffed, but I think it was at Chris this time, not me.

"I can see Chris being the type to do that too. And what's with all the hair gel anyways? Dude's hair doesn't even move its got so much crap in it!"

"I know! That's just not right." I exclaimed, glad I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"One day I'm gonna find his stash and toss it off a cliff, just to piss him off. Egotistical narcissist." That one got a laugh out of both of us, and then it went quiet. But it wasn't an awkward quite, it was just a comfortable silence, and it was kind of nice. Actually, it sort of reminded me of this one movie scene from Camp Rock…

"Okay, I'm probably crazy for thinking this, but doesn't it feel like we should be pointing out the constellations right now or something?" I said, turning my head away from the sky and over to look at him.

"I think you've watched a few too many shitty romance movies."

_Or acted in too many._ But, of course, I didn't mention that to him.

"Yeah, I guess I have. Do you even know any constellations?"

"Nope, not a clue."

"Wow Duncan, your just _so_ romantic." I said sarcastically. This time, it was me who rolled my eyes at him.

"And just what are you implying there Princess?" He raised an eyebrow at me yet again, accompanied by one of his signature smirks.

"Oh, ewww, no!" I cried, making a disgusted face at he thought. "I'd rather have to kiss Zac Effron!"

"Sure you would." he said sarcastically, not believing me at all. "The guys even worse then Chris."

"Tell me about it. He's just a wanna be singer. I don't get why anyone would want to listen to his cheesy songs when there are so many better bands out there! Why even bother wasting your time? I'd rather drive a nail into my skull. To call it music is an insult to great bands everywhere."

"Yeah, exactly. The ones who should be getting the real praise are bands like…" We continued talking like that for the rest of the night. We covered bands (_love_ My Chemical Romance, Billy Talent, and Sum 41!), movies (go Iron Man!), school, family, friends, and even most embarrassing moments (defiantly falling into the snapping turtle lake). I really had fun just talking up there with him; it was like our issues with our parents had brought us together for a kind of weird truce. But, of course, it was only temporary, and I knew we would just go back to hating each other once we got back to camp. It was just the way we were, and always would be.

We talked for hours on that cliff, even though it only felt like minutes. Before I knew it, I saw the sun peek out from behind the water,sendint it's glittering rays of light over the lake's surface, and filling the sky with the most beautiful pastel streaks. It looked like a water color painting it was so perfect. The clouds in the sky, turned pink by the sun, only added to the beauty. It was just so-

_Wait a minute, the sunrise?! Holy crap we talked through the whole night!_

"We need to get back to camp!" I cried, jumping up and starting frantically walking back down the cliff, cutting off Duncan in mid-sentence.

"Whoa, what's the rush, Princess? Afraid of getting caught out past your bedtime?" Duncan joked as he jumped up and hurried after me, but I just rolled my eyes at his comment and smacked his shoulder teasingly.

"Oh haha, hiliarious. But do you really want to make it five nights without sleep?" I asked, and saw him cringe.

"Good point." And with that, we both started walking down the cliff together rather quickly after that, or as fast as we could go on such little sleep. The whole way back it was silent, and we went the entire hike without talking we were so tired. Or at least we almost did.

"So, Princess," said Duncan in a too-smug tone, starting the conversation bakc up. I just knew this was going to be bad "why wouldn't you kiss me at the bonfire last night?"

"What are you talking about? I did kiss you." I replied, my tone just as smug as his. But he scoffed at me, not believing what I was saying.

"You know what I mean. A peck on the cheek doesn't qualify in a kiss in my book."

"And just what exactly are you trying to imply?" I asked, as I stopped walking, the two of us already having reached the cabin porch. I knew before the question was out of my mouth that I wasn't going to like his answer.

"I think that you were too afraid you would like it." Okay, he did not just say that. There was no way I would like kissing _him_. It just wasn't possible, and he should really have gotten that message by now.

"Oh, god, ewww. You are way to full of yourself." I replied, making a face at the thought of our lips even coming anywhere near eachother.

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you prove it." Prove it huh? Oh I knew I was going to regret it, but it was the only way to shut him up. Otherwise, he was going to keep mocking me for the rest of the time we were her, and I just couldn't deal with that.

"Okay, _fine_." I grabbed a hold of the sides of his face, pulled him towards me, and kissed him full on the lips. And oh, god, it was _increadible. _As soon as our lips touched it was like I felt this hot fire burning throughout my veins, my body crying out for more. But that couldn't happen, so I reined it in and pulled away after only a second. I was a little out of breath from the kiss, but I kept my face calm and blank, not revieling that informatin to Duncan.

"See? Nothing. It was just as bad as I thought it would be." i told him as turned on my heels and walked through the cabin door, leaving a stunned Duncan out on the porch, staring after me as I walked away.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of a quite rustling around in the cabin, I blinked my eyes, the bed creaking as I moved around to try and get a better view of where the noise was coming from.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up." said a voice that I recognized to be none other then Gwen's.

"It's okay." I replied, blinking the sleep out of my eyes enough that I could clearly make out my surroundings. "What are you in here for?" Now that my brain was in a somewhat functioning state, I remembered that she wasn't actually on are team, and therefore shouldn't be in this cabin.

"Just looking for a pen, mine ran out of ink." She held up her purple pen and waved it in front of her face for me to see, showing that she came in peace.

"I think I might have one around here somewhere." I got up out of bed and started searching through my bag. "What do you need it for?" This made her blush, and she ducked her head, attempting to cover her cheeks with her hair.

"Um, just to write in my diary." she mumbled, so quietly I had to strain my ears to hear her. "I know, totally cheesy, but it helps me practice my writing skills. I'm thinking about being an author one day."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm the queen of cheezyness when it comes to that stuff" I said, waving off her hobbie like it was nothing. "I've watched The Notebook too many times to count. And this right here," I pulled The Host out of my suitcase and held it up the show her, "is my favorite book of all time. I'm a totally romantic sap." Even so, I never really wanted to be the girls in those stories, because all off them were just waiting for prince charming to come and sweep them off their feet, and make their lives perfect. Yes, they I envied them for the great guys they got, but they were such wimps that I never had any desire to be them. I imagined my own love story a bit differently. One that didn't leave my looking like I was so helpless, and didn't have my dream guy doing everything for me, because I was perfectly capable of doing it myself.

"You liked The Host better then Twilight?" Oh great, here we go again, another Host hater. "So did I!" Okay, I did not see that one coming.

"Really? I thought with you being Goth and all, you'd be more into vampires." She scuffed at this, confirming her opinion.

"Twilight was so _not_ a real vampire book. It wasn't dark enough! I mean, come on, Edward Cullen? He was such a sap. Not the type of guy that would be a _real _vampire, or one that I'd want to date for that matter."

"Yeah, he was a bit emotional for a guy. But still, you have to admit, he _was _hot."

"Defiantly! Although, Ian was pretty hot too, same with Jarred."

"Yeah…" I drifted off, both of us with our heads in boyland, the room going silent. After about a minute of fantasizing about Jarred, my head snapped back into reality.

"Here's you pen," I said, grabbing it off the top of my bag and holding it out to her. "Sorry it's pink, it's the only one I brought."

"It's okay, I can live with pink for a little while." But she still cringed, and I let out a small laugh. Instead of being offended by it though, Gwen just smiled back at me.

"I should probably let you get back to sleep now, but I'll see you around?" she asked, just as unsure about what had happened as I was.

"Definitely." I replied, giving her a smile of my own. She turned around and walked out of the cabin, the door swinging shut behind her.

I wasn't exactly sure, but I think that might have been the beginning of a friendship forming between us. I thought about that as I crawled back into bed, pulling the covers over my face to try and block out the light streaming into the cabin, until I fell back into a deep sleep.

* * *

I slept all through the rest of the afternoon, and by the time I woke up the sun was low in the sky, and everyone was at the mess hall. I threw some clothes on and took a shower, not bothering to dry my hair this time. I put it in French braids, only they turned out short and stubby with my new hair cut, rather then long and thick like they used to be.

_God I want hair back_. Long hair was just so much sexier.

When I walked into the Lodge, I got my food, a coffee (I could really go for a caramel latte right now. This cheap brand just wasn't cutting it) and sat down at our table, only to find that it had been taken over by all the girls at camp. Even most of the girls from the other team were here, the boys had retreated to the Gopher's table (except for Duncan, who was probably still asleep in the cabins), and as soon as I heard a few pieces of the epic debate going on, I could see why.

"No _way,_ Edward is _sooooo_ much hotter then Jacob! Go team Edward!" Katie cried, acting a bit too serious about the whole thing, although I guess when you're an airhead the Team Edward-Team Jacob conflict is the most crucial issue of the year.

"Sorry, Robert Pattison just isn't doing it for me. And Jacob is so much more lovable!" Bridgett countered back, sighing in the way any teenage girl does when conjuring up a mental image of Taylor Lautner. Of course she was Team Jacob; add partying to his list of favorite things to do and he was practically Geoff.

"Yeah, Taylor Lautner is just so dreamy…" Beth agreed, going off into la la land like Bridgett. I could practically see her drooling.

"But Edward is the Perfect gentleman! How can you not _love _that?" piped in Lindsey, bouncing on her heals. Isn't it just so much fun when a big group of girls get all dreamy about guys like this? If you don't mind the whole brains turning to mush, its totally the best feeling in the world.

"But that Taylor is fi-_ine_." Lashawna told them, moving her head from side to side in that way that only a home girl can do. I really needed to get her to teach me that move.

"Oh, please, they're _both _losers." said Heather, rolling her eyes. "Anyone can see that James is the real hottie, but the movie completely ruined him." She looked down at her tray as she said this, and made a face at her food, dumping her tray into the trash without even taking a bite of it. I looked down at mine, and I have to say I couldn't blame her.

"James?!?" Katie, Beth, and Lindsey all exclaimed at the same time. Figures that Heather would go for the villain.

"What about you Courtney?" Bridgett asked, and all eyes immediately turned to me, like I was now the deciding vote in this argument. Despite all my time in the spotlight, I suddenly felt a little bit uncomfortable.

"Oh, well, I really like Emmet." I told them, blushing as red as Bella always did.

"Really?" asked an eager Sadie, eyes going wide.

"Yeah! He's just so funny and lovable and strong…" I sighed, going into my happy place just like Bridgett and Beth had, my eyes glazing over. Us girls are such saps sometimes, but that's one of the funnest parts!

"I know, right?" Izzy said, bouncing up and down. "He just _sooooooooooo_ cool! And that whole waving the knife at Bella thing? Yeah that was totally the best part of the whole movie. I actually did that one when I was cooking for this friend, but the knife kinda slipped, and it got really gory. Haha, it was sick, yeah." We all just kind of looked at her funny, not sure to be afraid or creeped out. "What?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders like it was nothing, which for Izzy it probably was.

"Okay, well I think we can all agree on one thing." I spoke up, and all eyes turned back on me, just like it always was back home in Hollywood. "Kristen Stewart _completely_ ruined Bella." This sparked a frenzy of Kristen comments that were not all that nice, and various complaints about her zombie like acting. However, I noticed Katie and Sadie didn't say anything about her, seeming to be off in a world of thier own.

"You know what I think we should do?" Katie asked us after all of the Kristen comments died down. And of course, like always, her other half answered tha question.

"Sleepover!" Sadie cried, and the two of them hugged and started jumping up and down.

"OMG, you just totally read my mind, just like Edward!" This only caused their squealing to get louder, but the rest of us were to far gone in boyland to be annoyed by it.

"I love sleepovers!" Lindsey exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. "I've got _tons _magazines we can look at."

"Okay, sleepover at the Bass cabin?" Bridgett asked us, and everyone agreed, even Heather reluctantly said she would. "Well, if we're gonna have a sleepover, we need someone to get the snacks…" we all glanced over at Chef who was violently pounding a piece of meat with an meat mallet.

"I nominate Bridgett!" Heather said in a fake cheery voice, too afraid to do it herself. She smiled at Bridgett, but somehow it still seemed unfriendly.

"Um, okay, but maybe I should wait until he _doesn't _have something that can be used as a deadly weapon in his hands." Bridgett replied, looking uneasily over at the kitchen.

Across the table, I saw something vibrating in Heather's pocket, and realized it was her cell phone, having defied the rules and brought one too...

_Oh no, I never called Jen! _She was going to be dying for details after four days of not having an update, especially since our awakathon episode had already aired. I was surprised she hadn't tried to call me herself already.

I quickly excused myself from the table and ran back to the cabin to get my cell, then went over to the beach. I sat out on the dock, and dialed her number. I knew I wouldn't get caught with my phone, even this close to camp, because Chef was still in the kitchen, and Chris, as usual, was no where to be found.

I dialed Jen's number and once again she picked up on the first ring, jumping in before I had the chance to speak.

"WHERE WERE YOU IT'S BEEN 5 WHOLE DAYS AND YOU HAVEN'T CALLED WHAT THE HECK AND OMG I SAW THE AWAKATHON AND THE CLIFF DIVE HOT TUB BUILDING CHALLENGE AND THEY WERE AWSOME!!!!!" Jen burst out shrilly.

"Well, thanks for ruining my eardrums." I teased playfully, but even after saying that she continued to scream.

"WHO CARES WE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES TO TALKE ABOUT LIKE WHY YOU HAVEN'T CALLED! I WAS READY STOMP DOWN THERE AND KILL YOU FOR NOT CALLING!" I was going to need a hearing aid after this call was done.

"Calm down Jen!" I exclaimed, and I head a deep yoga breath on the other end of the line. "We didn't have an off day after the Awakathon, and I didn't want to get my phone taken away." I explained to her in an even tone, hoping it would help calm her down.

"Oh! So that means you had another challenge! Tell me everything!" Jen exclaimed, in a somewhat calmer tone. Sometimes it seemed like she was bipolar with how fast she could switch gears.

"Oh my god, Jen it was so awesome!" I cried, getting just as worked up as she had been. "This week we played dodge ball and it was totally griping! At first, we sucked, because after voting Eva off, the only strong player we had was Duncan. And he was asleep on the bench, thanks to Harold's snoring all night he'd gone 4 nights without sleep! So after the second game it was 2-0, and we needed a new plan. So I suggested we wake Duncan up, and with his strategy, brutal as it might have been, we won 3 games in a row! We even snuck into the Gopher's hot tub last night to celebrate the win!" By the time I had finished explaining, I was out of breath, having not paused to breathe the entire time.

"Sneaking into the Gopher's hot tub? Wow Courtney, that doesn't sound like you at all." Jen said, her tone implying something but I just couldn't figure out what.

"Oh, yeah, I know. But it was Duncan's idea, not mine!" I rushed my explanation, not wanting her to get the wrong idea about me. This show may be hectic, but I was still the same goody two shoes I always was.

"So it was Duncan's idea that you went along with was it?" It took me about two seconds before I finally got the hint.

"What!? Ewwwwwwwww, no way! No, no, and defiantly no. He's evil, and brutal, and he dressed weird, and he's in freaking juvi! Why would you even think that?!?!" I _so_ did not like Duncan, in fact, I loathed his guts, and if all his endless teasing was any indication, he felt the same way.

"Geeze, someone's a little defensive." She said, implying I liked Duncan yet again. "But, honestly, it's just that you're both so stubborn and intimidating. You'd be good for each other." Jen sounded really serious and sincere about the whole thing, no longer just joking. She was really missing the point here.

"Okay, Jen, there's this little thing called the point that I'd like you to meet. You're missing it!"

"Oh, come on Court, you can't really know that you would never work out if you don't ever just talk with him!"

"Well…" I said, pausing a bit to think about last night before finishing the sentence, but I didn't get the chance. That little pause was all Jen needed to tell that something was up.

"Courtney, something happened with you two didn't it? Spill!" I knew it was useless trying to keep something from Jen, so there was really no point in holding back.

"Okay, you see, the first day I called you, I found this really great spot up on the cliff. And last night, I decided to go back to it, and, well, it turns out I wasn't the only one that found it." I started telling her reluctantly, and then launched into the real story. "Duncan just wouldn't leave, and if I left then that would have meant he had won, and I couldn't let that happen! So we ended up both staying up there and we just sort of talked all night. And it's not like we're suddenly friends now or something, because we're not. It was just a temporary truce and now we're right back to hating each other." I didn't dare tell her about the kiss, because I knew she would make it out to be _way _more than it was. I had convinced myself that the kiss had been nothing, because it was. Hell, it wasn't even that great. The way I figured it, you couldn't control who you had a physical reaction to; our raging teenage hormones probably made it so anyone we kissed felt like that. It was just a matter of science, and you couldn't control who you had a chemical reaction with. Just because someone can give a half way decent kiss, doesn't mean you like them, because I _defiantly_ didn't like Duncan. At all.

"Okay, but enough about me, what about you and Jasper!" As soon as I asked this, all of Jen's thoughts about Duncan and I immediately left her mind and where replaced with overwhelmingly loving thoughts of her Jasper.

"Court, he's just so perfect!" she exclaimed, giddy at just the thought of him. "He took me to this Bandage Ball, a charity event his dad's hospital was hosting, and he was such a gentleman! I had to pick out a dress and everything, and he went shopping for it with me, and didn't complain once! He even paid for it, and the dress I picked was over a thousand dollars! And honestly, he has got to be the best ballroom dancers I've ever met."

"Jen, that is so great!" I cried, happy for her for having found someone so perfect. As much as I hated to ruin her love fest, there were more important things I needed to talk with her about. "But, I hate to ask, is there any updates on the rumors of where I've gone to?" I braced myself, preparing for whatever crazy idea the press had come up with this time.

"Actually, it's just the same old thing." Jen told me and I let out a sign of relief. "They've got some bigger news to report on this week."

"Really? Tell me!" Jen was the only contact I had with the outside world, so I was dying to hear any juicy gossip she might have for me.

"Okay, so Miley released this new song, and it's called," she cracked up laughing before she even spit it out. "Ice Cream Freeze! It's even got some cheesy dance to go with it, and it's like some messed up version of the Hoedown Throwdown." She held the phone up to her computer speakers and put the song on, and I immediately started cracking up laughing, just like Jen still was.

"_Do the ice cream freeze, strike your pose, then you do the milkshake and you shake it down low." _Sang Miley though the phone line, and I could only imagine the idiotic dance that went along with it.

"Wow, that's just, wow." I said, not even able to come up with words to describe its cheesyness.

"I know right!" Jen exclaimed, and started laughing again. "But it's just so annoyingly catchy! I can't stop singing it!"

"Same thing with the Hoedown Throwdown!" As much as I hated Miley I couldn't help but get her songs stuck in my head. And they were just so fun to sing! That was one of the reasons I hated them so much.

"Okay, I'm really sorry but I have to go." I said to Jen. "All of the girls are having a sleepover tonight, and their probably wondering where I am"

"Oh, _fine_, I'll let you get to your sleepover." She sighed reluctantly, pretending to act pissed at me.

"I'll call you later!" I cried cheerfully.

"Bye!" I hung up the phone, looking out over the water one last time before I got up, and walked back over to the cabins.

"Oh my god, isn't Joe Jonas like, _sooooo_ hot!?" Lindsey asked Beth, who were lying on the cabin floor, surrounded by hundreds of magazines. Every girl at camp (even Gwen, a bit more open about showing her girly side after our encounter today.) was spread out in various positions around our cabin. Someone had gotten out a huge stash of magazines, some chips and pop, and the iHome we had used the other night was set up on the corner with Bridgett's iPod.

"I don't know, I think Nick is the real cutie." Beth replied, pointing at his picture as I walked past everyone, heading straight for the iPod, to make a playlist.

"Courtney! Where have you been?" Sadie cried, Katie whipping up her head to look at me too.

"Yeah, we've been wondering where you went to." Lashawna piped in. "You completely missed Bridget's super secret spy girl mission to steal chips and soda from Chef."

"Oh, I just went to take a quick shower." I lied to them. I trusted these girls, but I didn't want anyone to accidentally let out to one of the crew members that I had a cell phone here.

I started putting songs on an on-the-go playlist, choosing a bunch of ones that were super girly. Some Jonas Brothers, Avril Lavigne, David Archuleta and, ta-da, the perfect girls' night in playlist. I hit play and Keep it Real by the Jonas Brothers came on and everyone shrieked and started singing the song at the top of their lungs, including myself. Even after meeting the boys in person several times I couldn't help but get worked up with the rest of them. They were just so cute!

We danced and sang, until finally the song was over, a less exciting one coming on. Everyone flipped through the magazines strew throughout the room, until someone suggested something that sounded a lot more entertaining.

"Hey, you know what would be so much fun right now?" Katie asked us, her smile growing wider.

"Makeover!" Sadie and Katie cried out together, then started frantically flipping through their magazines for make up tips.

"Well, _I _nominate Beth for a makeover." Heather said, searching for her suitcase for her makeup bag.

"What do you say Beth?" I asked, smiling warmly at her. "Ready for us to make you beautiful?"

"Yes!" Beth squealed, and Lindsey started jumping up and down with her.

"Actaully I have this really cool thing I can do with your eye make up..," Gwen told her, but Heather jumped in before she got a response.

"Hey, why is my make up all mixed up? Has someone been using?" Heather asked, searching through the bag, and making a face when she couldn't find the things she was looking for. Bridgett and I looked at each other and smiled, trying to hold back our laughter. Gwen saw this and raised an eyebrow at us, and I mouthed 'I'll tell you later', and she nodded her head.

"Make up time!" Lindsey cried, and all of us when to work on Beth. After a good ten minutes of moisturizing, plucking, and glossing, we were finally done. Beth's hair was now sleek and shiny, thanks to numerous hair products, and her face looked incredible! If only she could get some new cloths and those braces of her teeth, she could give Heather a run for her money. And Gwen had done this incredible look with her eye make up, putting it not just on her lids, but swirling it in beautiful patterns coming out of the corners of her eyes. Dramatic as it was, it actually looked great, and didn't overdo the look, just made it more of a night-on-the-town one.

"Dang, girl, you look _smokin'_" Lashawna told her, handing Beth a mirror. She looked at her reflection and gave a smile so big it devoured the rest of her face. If only she could just get rid of those dang braces…

"You really do Beth." I agreed, and this caused her to smile even bigger. "If you wear that when you go back to school, I can guarantee every guy is going to be asking for your number."

"Really?" squeaked Beth, lowering the mirror from her face to look at me.

"Really."

As soon as I finished speaking, Katie walked over to the iHome to put on Crush by David Archuleta, and everyone started singing all over again (and not all of us were very good at it, if you wanna know the truth). We danced around with each other, and probably having the most fun since we got here.

"Hey, keep it down, we're trying to sleep over here!" called out one of the boys from the other side of the cabin. But in response, we just turned up the music and started singing even louder, having far too much fun to care about them.

* * *

Duncan POV

I had been awake for an hour now, thanks to the girls music blasting from the other room. None of the other guys were getting any sleep either, and I knew I had to do something now if I had any hope of catching up on my sleep.

"Okay, this is ridiculous. We need a plan to keep them quiet." I said, propping myself up in bed.

"Yea- Owww" Tyler exclaimed from across the room, just as Geoff pulled the cord that turned on the lights.

"Did you just bang your head on the ceiling?" Geoff asked him, looking skeptical.

"Um, noooo…" Tyler said, his eyes looking everywhere but at Geoff. What a dork.

"Well, anyway, getting back to the point here," I cut in, trying to get us back on topic. "we need a plan. Anybody got any ideas?"

"Oooo, how bout-" Harold started eagerly.

"No." I jumped in, stopping him from going any farther. "Anybody else?"

"I did happen to pack some water balloons… maybe we could put them to some good use?" Geoff offered up, a sadistic smile coming onto his face.

"Now we're talking." Geoff grabbed the water balloons out of his suitcase, and I grabbed a couple flashlights from mine. We snuck quietly out of the cabin and into the bathrooms filling up most of the water balloons (I say most because the rest were filled until they burst thanks to Harold, leaving a large wet mark right at his crotch) and putting them into a bucket DJ had found out in the shed. We crept back out of the bathrooms, heading quietly back to the cabins, only to be caught by none other then Chef.

"Hey, what are you hooligans doing out this late?" Chef yelled at us in that no nonsense commanding officer voice of his. "You all better get back to you cabins before I make you, suckas!"

"Sir yes Sir!" I yelled back at him defiantly, raising my hand up to my forehead in a solute, trying to get his attention off of Tyler as he slowly moved the bucket of water balloons behind a nearby bush. My breath caught for a second as he nearly dropped it, but I let out a sigh of relief as he caught it, and was able to set the bucket down quietly enough for Chef not to notice.

_Why did we let _him _carry the water balloons anyways?_

"Okay, y'all do that then." He told us, and we all continued walking back to the cabins. But before we got very far, Chef stopped us again. "Hey, wait a second. Are those water balloons?"

"RUN!" I called out and started sprinting for the forest at top speed, everyone else following behind.

"GET BACK HERE YOU LOUSY MAGOTTS!" Chef called, as he followed after us. Once we got in the woods, it was every man for himself. We all split up, going off in different directions. I stopped running after a while and crouched down behind a bush, deciding it was safer to hide then continue to get lost int he forest. Everyone had turned off their flashlights, to avoid being seen, but that also made it hard to see where we were going, and I really didn't want to trip and fall face first into something gross like a pile of animal shit.

"Come out and face me you wimpy spineless cowards!" Chef called out, slowing down to a walk. He was pacing back and forth close to where I was hiding, enough that I could faintly make out his shadow.

_Okay duncan, it's now or never. Either you deal with Chef now or get caught and face the punishment._ I didn't have much chioce in terms of weapons, so my hands were my only defence. I was going to have to knock hijm out.

But, just as I was about to whack him over the head, I felt something wet hit my back, accompanied by a loud splat.

"Sorry, I thought you were Chef." Tyler whispered to me from behind a nearby tree, and I just rolled my eyes at him.

"I HEARD THAT!" Chef yelled out, and started heading our way. I had to act fast if we were going to make it, so I grabbed a stick, sprang out from my hiding spot, and wacked him over the head. Next thing I knew, he fell to the ground, out cold.

"Nice job Duncan!" Tyler said, walking out from behind his bush and over to me.

"Yeah, that was sweet dude." DJ told me, coming out of his hiding spot and slapping me on the back. Geoff and Harold joined up with us after that too, so we all turned our flashlights back on, and started heading back to the cabins.

"Hey, wait, we can't just leave him there." DJ said, and everyone turned back to look over at Chef, sprawled out on the ground.

"Sure we can." I said, and continued walking. Geoff just shrugged his shoulder and followed me, and eventually so did the others. Once we got back to the cabins, we all crouched outside the girls' window, being as quite as we possible could. Not that they would be able to hear us with how loud their music was.

"Okay, when I give the signal, we fire at them with all we've got. Got it?" I asked them, and they all nodded their heads. It was go time.

Courtney POV

"FIRE!" screamed a voice from outside our window, and out of nowhere, our room was being pelted with water balloons, soaking all of us.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHH" yelled several of the girls, including myself, as we ran to hide behind anything we could find. Finally the balloons ceased, and from outside we could hear laughter. Boys' laughter.

"That is so _not funny!_" I yelled at them, running over to the window, only to find the Bass boys laughing their asses off at us.

"Maybe not to you, Sweetheart. But from out standpoint it's pretty freaking hilarious!" Duncan called out, and then continued to laugh. I couldn't even begin to describe how much I loathed him right now.

"Really mature guys." Bridgett told them, coming to join me at the window from behind.

"My hair!" shrieked Lindsey from back inside the cabin, and this only caused the boys to laugh harder.

I huffed, turning on my heels to head back into our now soaking wet cabin, Bridgett following behind.

"We need a plan to get back at those Jerks!" I cried, sitting down on my bed. Thankfully I had grabbed a top bunk, because all of the bottom ones where now sopping wet, thanks to the boys water ballons.

"Well, _I've_ got an idea." Heather said, a smile creping up on her face, as she held up her make up bag, dangling it in front of her face.

"Perfect." I replied, my smile mimicking hers. Finally her evilness was coming in handy.

"Wait, I'm confused." Lindsey said, her brows furrowing over her eyes.

"Have Katie fill you in." I said to her, to busy planning to bother explaining myself. It would take to long with her brain processing speed anyways.

We waited about a half hour before heading over to the boys' cabin (approximately the time it took until we could hear Harold's snoring.), carrying Heather, my, and Lindsey's make up bags. We quietly unzipped them, pulling out various items of make up, and using them to make some 'adjustments' to the boys faces.

_They are going to be so sorry when they wake up in the morning._ I had a feeling this was going to be the beginning of a long and passionate, boys vs. girls prank war.

* * *

**A/N: CALLING ALL READERS!!!!! I have been so focused on scriptwriting lately that I have been neglecting to come up with new ideas for my story!!!! I promise once summer is over I will get back to regular updates and ideas, but right now I need your help! I don' t quite have enough content to continue making rly long chap (or at least no ones that are any good) so I need your help!! If you have any ideas plz tell me cuz i want to hear them!! I also desperately need them cuz I have developed a case of writer block. Im currently workingon the off day after not quite famous so if you have any ideas for that chap or future chap let me know! And with that, ill let you go. Plz review!!!!!!!!**


	11. Not Quite Famous

**A/N: Hey, i noe u guys r gonna b pissed at me, but im just not that into the show anymore. I've got bigger things to worry about and im now co writing a twilight fanfic with a friend. I would luv to keep writing but i just dont like the show anymore. This is the last chapter i wrote, it was back in july, and had not been edited at all. If anyone else would like to take over this story i would be happy to give u my plot line, but im just too busy and not into it. I'm sorry to say this will be my last chapter in this story, but when i have time i will continue to write other fanfics, as i enjoy doing so when i actually have free time available!** **thank u all for following my story this far, i noe my writing style kind of sucks so it means alot to me. Okay, so here it is, the last chap, hope you enjoy it!**

Not Quite Famous

Duncan POV

I woke up that morning, long before everyone else, the sun just now creping up over the horizon. I unwillingly got out of bed, knowing that after a full 24 hours of sleep I wasn't about to get any more. Somehow, even with that I still felt sleepy, but I'd take sleepiness over a walking corpse any day.

I decided to go for a morning jog, just like everyday, and stopped by the lodge to go and fill up my water bottle. When I got there, however, I noticed the coffee wasn't brewing yet, and considering a certain someone's coffee addiction, I was guessing Courtney wasn't up yet. I thought it might be fun to mess with her a bit, so I started brewing the coffee, only instead of the caffeinated coffee, I put in decaf. I figured it would throw her body out of whack, and maybe if I kept waking up early enough, I could keep putting in decaf, and then suddenly switch to espresso. I could just picture Courtney bouncing off the walls after that, and being temporally bipolar, and laughed at the thought. Yeah, I was so doing that.

I got the coffee going, filled up my water bottle, then left for my run, going on the same trail around the lake that I had the other day. My headphones were in, blocking out all of the noise around me, and allowing me to really get into running. I concentrated on my feet hitting the ground, keeping as steady pace as I ran around the trail, never slowing down. I was completely in tune with my body, aware of every muscle pulling and pushing my bones and joints to keep it moving. I didn't think about anything else, taking a break from the stress this show brought, knowing I'd have to deal with it again soon, our next challenge merely a few hours away.

Eventually, it started getting later into the morning and I had to turn around, knowing Chris was bound to wake the other campers up soon. I passed by the same scenery once again, sooner or later, coming to the beach I had scene Courtney sun bathing on, and once again, there she was, this time wearing a swimsuit that was much more conservative, to my dismay.

"I liked the red one a lot better!" I called out to her. But, instead of pissing her off- like I know it should have, because with Princess it was just that easy- she took only look at me, and a mocking smile came on to her face, clearly trying to hold back laughter.

"What?" I asked, jogging over closer to her, curious to see what she was laughing about. Saying this, for some reason, only made her crack up laughing, unable to keep it hidden any longer.

"You- ahahahahahaaha-your-" she tried to choke out, but her laughter was preventing her from saying anything, and she was even having trouble at breathing at this point. Finally, after a full minute or so off laughing, she was able to pause long enough to blurt out a few words

"YOUR FACE!" she yelled, only causing her laugh even harder, falling backwards onto her towel, and waving her legs in the air.

Okay, this was really starting to tick me off. What the hell was so funny about my face? With the way she kept laughing I knew there had to be something genuinely funny, because you couldn't fake that kind of laughter, unless of course you were a really good actor, which she wasn't as far as I knew. I didn't have a mirror out in the woods to look at, so I had to make do with the only thing I did have; the lake. The trees surrounding the water acted as a barrier against the wind, so it was fairly calm. That combined with the sun shinning down on its surface, made the water into a perfect mirror, reflecting my face back at me with almost perfect clarity.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY FACE?!" I was so loud that I had probably woken up the people sleeping back at camp. On my face was an array of various make up products, from blush to lipstick to eye shadow. The girls must have snuck in last night when we were sleeping and done this to all of us, as a way to get back at the guys for drenching their cabin.

Of course, my rage only made Courtney laugh harder, and I could only imagine how wimpy I looked, raging mad with pink cosmetics covering my skin.

I turned back to the water frantically scrubbing my skin with it to try and get the products off, but since the water running off of my face was still perfectly clear, I could tell it wasn't working.

"WHY THE HELL ISN'T THIS DAMN STUFF COMING OFF!?" I turned back around to Courtney, and by now she was gasping for breath she was laughing to hard, and I could tell I wasn't going to get an answer from her anytime soon. For a second I seriously considered pounding her face in, but quickly shook off the thought. Even I wasn't low enough to punch a girl. Instead, I filled up my now empty water bottle in the lake, and then dumped its contents right on top of Courtney. She immediately stopped laughing, sputtering and choking on the water before speaking.

"It's water proof!" she squealed, and this of course sent her into another fit of laughter, to hysterical to care that she was now soaked.

"THEN HOW DO I GET THIS SHIT OFF?" But of course she was again unable to answer me. I went back over to the lake to fill up the water bottle again, and was about to dump it on her when she held up her hands in front of her face in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I'm done." She was still smiling like a mad woman, but at least she was calm enough to talk. "You have to use make up remover."

"And just where I'm I supposed to get that?" I said though my teeth, still burning mad.

"Well, I could lend you some, but you have to do something for me first." I started tipping my water bottle, a few drops landing on her head, before she shrieked, holing her hands up to cover her already hopeless hair. "Fine you can have it!"

"That's more like it." And then I tipped over the water bottle anyways, soaking her once again.

"That's not fair!" she shrieked, wringing out her hair, and getting up on her feet, and attempting to dry it off with her towel.

"Life's not fair, get over it. Now lets get back to the cabins so I can get this shit off my face before anyone else sees me."

"_Fine,"_ she huffed, sounding mad for a minute before looking at my face, only to start giggling again. Now I was really glad I had taken away her coffee.

She got of from the ground, lethargically slow, and started dragging her feet to the trail, but I was too impatient to deal with it.

"_Not fast enough_." I groaned, and walked up behind her, placing my hand on my back and pushing her along, only to have her stubble even more the she already was.

"Hey! I'm going okay." But she was still moving at snails pace, and at this rate we wouldn't make it back for another hour, and that was _way _too late. The laughing high had worn off, and it didn't look like she was going to speed up anytime soon. Everyone else would already be awake.

_On second thought, maybe taking away her caffeine wasn't such a good idea._

I sighed, and stopped her from walking, stepping in front of her. "Hop on" I'd rather have to carry her then get back to camp and have everyone see me looking like this.

"What, no way! I'll walk thanks." She tried to walk around me, but I stopped her easily. She really was pathetic without her coffee.

"Just get on. Or would you rather my throw you over my shoulder again?" This got her to comply, and she hopped up on my back with only a halfhearted huff, and I took off at a steady jog.

I was in pretty good shape, so I was able to carry Courtney back with ease, getting back only a few minutes later then I would without her on my back. When we reached camp, I dropped her off my back on our cabins porch, and she fell onto her ass. I offered out a hand to here, and after stumbling trying to get up herself, she reluctantly took it.

"Go. Make up remover. Now." I told her, the run having done nothing to lessen my rage. If anyone woke up and saw me like this my rep would be ruined.

Courtney trudged into the cabins, without saying a word, and snickering a bit. I tapped my fingers on the porch's railing, impatiently waiting for her to emerge from the door way. Finally, a full five minutes later, she appeared from the cabin, handing me a bottle of clear liquid, making no attempt to try and hide the smile on her face at my expense. I tore the bottle out of her hands and went stomping off to the bathrooms in a foul mood.

"Don't use all of it!" she called after my, but I just ignored her. After 10 minutes of vigorous scrubbing, all of the make up way finally off, leaving my face a little red. No longer having women's products on my skin helped to calm me down, so I could think straight again.

Since I was in the bathroom, I thought that maybe I should take a shower. I lifted up my arm and sniffed my pits, deciding it wasn't that bad. Only, I thought back to the Axe incident, and decided to take one just for good measure.

After I finished up, I walked back to the cabins, and as soon as I got five feet from our room I could tell the boys had woken up. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"What's up with your face!" I heard Geoff exclaimed, and the started cracking up. I couldn't see who he said it to.

"My face? What about your face!" Harold snipped back at him angrily.

"More like both your faces!" DJ cried, doubling over in laughter, stopping Geoff from laughing himself. I was now inside the cabin and it was light enough to see that every one of their faces was covered in a think layer of make up, just like mine had been.

"Actually it's _all_ your faces." I said cockily, and this caused everyone's laughter to stop. "The girls snuck in last night while we were sleeping"

"WHAT?!" they all cried, running over to look at themselves in the cabins only microscopic mirror. They shoved each other out of the way, each of them trying to get a good view of their faces in the too small piece of metal.

"Okay, I need to go get this stuff off _now_!" Geoff said running for the door.

"I'm right behind you man" said DJ, following after him to the door.

"Hey, you might need this!" I told them, tossing DJ the make up remover before he and Geoff left the room.

"Thanks." DJ replied, and the two flew out the door at top speed, but not before they were seen.

Gwen, Bridgett, and Courtney were all sitting out on the porch, probably overhearing the commotion and having been just waiting there to see our reaction. They immediately started laughing their asses off, and Bridgett, who was sitting on the railing, fell off, and continued to laugh even after she hit the ground.

Geoff, Harold and DJ all sprinted to the bathrooms before anyone else could see them, only Lashawna and Heather were out on the Gopher's porch, and started laughing as well after catching a quick glimpse them, apparently having been in on the prank as well.

_And so the prank war has begun_

In the Lodge that morning, you could feel the tension at the table. At least, we did. The girls on the other hand, were so giddy it was just plain annoying. Every time one of them would look over at us, one of them would start laughing, which would start off a chain reaction until all of them were laughing so hard their faces turned blue. All of us guys were seated as far to the other end of the table as we could go, and ate our meals in silence. Well, almost everyone.

Apparently, Tyler hadn't gotten the make up memo, because when he walked thought the door, his face was the same way all of ours had been this morning. Everyone burst out into laughter, even a few of the guys at our table tried to suppress a few snickers.

"Wait, what?" Tyler said, looking frantically around the room, trying to figure out what was so funny.

"Dude, you might want to go look in a mirror." Geoff advised him, and one of the girls tossed him a compact, which he opened only to stare at his face in horror, and go running for the bathrooms. It was gonna take a long time to wash his face off without the make up remover. I would offer him some, only we had used it all this morning.

We ate the rest of our meals in silence, finishing quickly. We got up from the table together, just as Courtney got up to get what I swear had to be her seventh cup off coffee, trying to get energized, but to no avail. Once we were outside, and out of the girl's hearing rang, I dared to say what I'm sure everyone had been thinking.

"I thinks it's time for a little payback." My expression going from stone cold to a mischievous smile. "Anyone up for planning our retaliation?"

"You know it dude." Geoff said, and we all walked back to the cabins, closing the door behind us and taking in hushed tones. The walls were thin and we didn't want our plan to even the score to be blown before we got a chance to even put it into action.

We taked strategy for the next ten minutes, and we worked out a killer plan in that time if I do say so myself. Man those girls were going to be sorry they messed with us.

"So, everyone got the plan?" I asked, looking around the room. We weren't going to put it into action until late tonight, but with Chris's crazy challenges who knew when we were going to get the chance to talk again.

"I think we have it." DJ said.

"They're going down!" exclaimed Tyler, giving a small fist pump.

"Attention campers!" Chris's voice boomed over the loud speaker. "Time for you next challenge. So head on over to the ampatheater and bring you talent with you. We're going to make you famous!" Okay, what the hell. Weren't we already famous? Chris really needs to get some new writers.

* * *

"Welcome to our deluxe, state of the art, outdoor amphitheater!" Chris said from the stage. All of us campers were 2 sets of bleachers, divided by teams. Geoff was on my left, and Courtney was right in front of me, looking like she was about to pass out.

"Okay, this week's challenge is a summer camp favorite, a talent contest!" he finished, pointing at the camera behind us.

"Yes! Awesome!" Owen yelled back at Chris, jumping up out of his seat, in typical Owen fashion.

"Each team has eight hours to pick the three most talented campers" Katie and Sadie squealed at this. "These three will represent them in the show tonight. Sing, dance, juggle, anything goes!" He paused to look at me threateningly. "As long as it's legal."

I snapped my fingers, shaking my head in defeat.

_Damn it, there goes all of my good talents. It's too bad, kicking Chris's ass in front of millions of viewers would have been so much fun._ Binding contracts really suck.

"You'll be judged by our resident talent scout, former DJ and rap legend, Grand Master Chef, who will show his approval via the chef-o-meter." Chris pointed to an empty space above his head. The crew would probably edit in some lame effect later, for the viewers. "The team that looses will send one camper home and _tonight._ Good luck." He walked off the stage, leaving us to get ready for the challenge.

"Well, _I_ think we should host auditions." Courtney said in the middle of yawning. I couldn't help but snicker at that.

"Sounds good to me." Geoff said, everyone else agreeing.

"Awesome! Let's get this challenge started!" Tyler cried out.

_Oh, we are so dead._

_

* * *

  
_

Courtney POV

"Us first!" Katie cried, grabbing Sadie up off the grass, and running into the cabin. She came out with a boom box and hooked her iPod up to it choosing a song.

All of us were sitting on the grass outside of our cabin, auditioning people to compete for the Bass in the talent show. The Gophers were over near their cabin, so none of us could see the competition. Not that it really mattered; it didn't look like anyone here had that much talent anyways. Just look at the show we were all on! But that was okay, because I had jaw-dropping talent up my sleeve that was going to blow them all away.

Katie turned on the music, and the two girls broke out into some horrible dance routine to the cheesiest pop song in history. Besides me, Bridgett's eyes went wide while I smacked my hand to my forehead.

"Um… that's great guys." Bridgett told them in a shaky voice, "but maybe we should see everyone else's talents before we decide if your in."

"Oh, okay." Sadie replied, and the two girls walked back to their seats, completely oblivious to how horrible their audition was.

"I'm next!" Tyler cried, and jumped up from his spot, pulling a yo-yo out of his pocked. Yeah, you read that right, a yo-yo.

_Oh god._ I just knew this was going to be bad, and I was right. After only 5 seconds he managed to wrap the yo-yo string around his body, hopelessly tangling himself with it. I just smacked my palm to my forehead once again. I had to be careful, because if I kept this up that damn action figure might actually become a reality.

To make things even worse, Chris walked up right as Tyler had taken out the yo-yo, and had seen the whole thing. And of course, being Chris, he just had to comment.

"Man that is weak." He said, pointing to Tyler.

"I'll go get some scissors." Bridgett sighed, getting up to find some. Once she had, she walked over to Tyler and began cutting the strings. Once he was free, he gathered up the pieces of his yo-yo, looking at it gloomily, and stuffed them in his pocket.

"Alright, who's next?" I said half heartedly, leaning back farther on my palms and contemplating falling asleep.

"Oh, well, um, I can go next." DJ piped up, a little nervous.

"Okay, show us what you got big guy!" replied Geoff encouragingly, hitting him on the back in that way all guys do. I've never really gotten how hitting someone is supposed to show your encouragement.

"Sure, just let me go change." DJ ran off into the cabins, changing into who knows what. I yawned and leaned back farther on my palms, letting my head hang back and almost falling asleep. If it weren't for Duncan kicking me awake I would have too. I sat up criss-cross style on the stump next to me and shot a glare in Duncan's direction, but he just continued looking off into space with a bored look on his face like nothing had happened.

Just then, DJ came out of the cabins wearing, you'll never guess, a white leotard, carrying a wand with a pink ribbon on the end. He started to twirl it around and dance on his toes like a ballerina. All of our team was impressed, but I however, was just plain annoyed (which might have been from how tired I was. Stupid cheap coffee. After a few weeks I had already developed an intolerance to it. 7 cups of the stuff I was still ready to pass out!) I had a feeling that a routine like this wouldn't go over to well with Chef.

DJ ended his routine by landing in a split, and everyone, even Duncan, clapped for him, while I just sat there on my stump pouting.

"_Fine_, sign him up. Next." I called out, letting my chin fall into my palm in defeat.

"Me!" Bridgett exclaimed, walking up in front of all of us. "I can stand on my hands for twenty minutes, watch." She got up on her hands and started walking around.

"Okay, that'd be cute if you were a monkey, but I don't think that's quite what we're looking for. Next." I know I should have been a little nicer to Bridgett, but I was just too tired to put in the effort.

Apparently, Harold took this as his cue to try out, because the next thing I knew he in front of us all, ready to show s his talent. But of course, being Harold, I knew he wasn't going to be any good, and in this state I just didn't' have the patience. So as soon as he opened his mouth, I cut him off.

"Next." I called, and he slouched back to his spot on the grass.

"Guess that means your up next dude," DJ said to Duncan, who unwillingly sauntered up to show us what he could do.

"And remember, it has to be _legal_" I emphasized for him, but the menacing effect was ruined when it was interrupted by a large yawn.

"Yeah, yeah Sleeping Beauty, I got that." He replied, rolling his eyes at me and continued to walk over to a tree where he carved on of his signature skulls into it.

"Really impressive." I said sarcastically to him.

"What, you said it had to be legal."

"Okay then," Bridgett said, interrupting our argument before it got the chance to get ugly, "what can you do Courtney? Anything talent-show worthy?"

"Well, why don't I just show you." I got up and went into the cabin, pulling out my violin case from my suitcase. I unlatched the case, pulling out my violin and heading back outside. I walked up in front of everyone took a deep breath, and started playing. After only a few seconds I could already see that everyone's jaws had dropped, and they should have. After 10 years of taking lessons, I better have been pretty damn good. Although, that didn't' mean I liked to play, because truth be told, I hated it. I would much rather be playing the guitar if I had any say in it, but of course my parents forced me into violin instead. In fact, if it weren't for Taylor Lautner (my co- star and love interest in Camp Rock) I wouldn't even know how to play. He was a total guitar freak and taught a few songs during our free time on set.

I finished up my piece, and after a few seconds of mindless staring, everyone broke out into applause as I took a proud bow, shooting a glance at Duncan only to find that he looked really peeved.

"Your up next Geoff." I said to him as I walked back to my seat on the stump.

"Awesome!" Geoff jumped up on the skateboard he had been carrying, doing a bunch of wow worthy tricks and jumps before propping up his skateboard with his foot, catching it, and smiling on the camera. All of us walked over around him and I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face, knowing that with me and Geoff we would actually have a pretty good chance at winning this thing.

"Well, I guess it's Geoff, DJ's ribbon thing, and your solo." Bridgett said to me as all of us crowded around Geoff, who was now standing proudly with his skateboard clutched in his hands.

"I'm gonna be on TV man!" Geoff said to DJ, who gave him a thumbs up. Oh good god.

"Your already on TV, Geoff." Bridgett responded in an even tone. Normally, I would have added onto what she had said with some sarcastic comment, but I was too happy and tired at the moment to care.

"Oh yeah." After realizing this fact Geoff ran over to the camera and stuck his face in front of it. "HELLO OUT THERE DUDES!"

"So, should we head over to the amphitheater so we can have a chance to practice on stage? DJ asked all of us, changing the topic to try and cover up Geoff's stupidity.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." I replied, as we all started to head over to the amphitheater. Once we got there, I wasted no time at all, right away starting to practice my violin solo. Geoff practiced grinding and jumping across the stage on his board while DJ started perfecting his ribbon routine thingy. But, of course, like all teenage boys, Geoff and DJ had a rather short attention span, and practicing didn't last that long. Less then an hour into it, the two started up a game of cards with Duncan. But it was okay, I could win this single handedly if I had to, I just had to keep practicing. This was going to be a piece of cake.

* * *

Duncan POV

"Got any two's?" DJ asked, looking up from his cards at Geoff.

"Go fish." he replied, and DJ reached into the pile to grab a card. Yeah, that's right, we were playing go fish. Lame, I know, but DJ had suggested we play it in 'camp spirit'. But, we still had 6 hours to kill before the challenge, and it's not like there was anything better to do around here. That's' what you get for applying to a show that takes place at a crappy summer camp out in the middle of nowhere. With Chris and all his brand name hair shit I guess they had to cut costs somewhere.

"Go fish? Seriously guys, are you like, in what, the third grade?" Bridgett said, walking over to us, a bag of freshly opened chips in her hands.

"Wanna join in? We've got a pretty sweet pot." Geoff asker her, gesturing to the random pile of crap we had bet with, all of us being broke. Bridgett looked down at the pot, which currently consisted of my carving knife, Geoff's six pack of coke (left over from the hot tube party), and some cheesy looking novel of DJ's. Bridgett laughed and then shrugged, throwing her bag of chips into the pile.

"Sure, why not? There's nothing else to really do around here anyways." She replied, pulling up a crate to sit on. DJ gathered up all the cards and dealt them out to each of us, as Bridgett reached for another chip.

"Hey!" I said, smacking her hand away teasingly. "No eating from the pot." Bridgett just made an overdramatic hurt looking face, causing Geoff and DJ to break out laughing. Once they had calmed down, DJ finished dealing the cards out on the table, and we all started playing again.

"Got any jacks?" I asked Geoff, who reluctantly handed over two of his cards, as I smiled cockily back at him. This game was too easy. "DJ, you got any nines?"

"Nope, go fish." He said, as I reached over to draw from the deck. "But hey guys, is it just me, or does Courtney look really familiar to you guys? Oh and Bridge do you have any fours?"

"Actually, I thought she looked like someone I've seen before..." Bridget responded. "and no, go fish." DJ reached into the deck, and smiled, to reveal the card he'd drawn was a four.

"Yeah, she does look a bit familiar now that I think about it." I added, reorganizing the cards in my hand as I said this.

"Weird, I thought the same thing, dudes." agreed Geoff, furrowing his brow in thought. Now that was a look you didn't see on Geoff very often.

"Hmmm… I wonder who she looks like yo?" said DJ, looking down at his cards to plan his next move. "If we all recognize her she has to look like someone famous. Hey Geoff, you got any kings man?"

"Aww man! I really suck at this game." Geoff slammed 2 kings down on the table in defeat, causing Bridgett to giggle. Whoa whoa, wait, hold on a sec there. Bridgett giggling? Looks like someone was crushing on the Geoffster. "Wait, I got it!" Geoff cried, and we all turned our heads to look up at him. "She looks like that girl from that one movie, you know?" All of us groaned at this, having been given false hope about figuring out this little puzzle of ours.

"Wow Geoff, really specific." replied Bridgett, rolling her eyes at him.

"Hey Duncan, got any fives?" DJ asked, already getting back to the game.

"Sorry man, go fish." I responded as DJ grabbed a card from the pile.

"No, dudes I got this." Geoff said, his brow creasing even farther in an attempt to concentrate. "The lead girl in that one vampire movie. You know, the one that all those girls went _crazy _over?"

"You meant Twilight." Bridgett asked him, her voice perking up a bit, obviously a fan of the movie… or book. Or whatever the hell it was.

"Yeah! That's it! That Bella girl." DJ cried, as he and Geoff exchanged a smile. Okay, like everyone else on the face of this planet, I had seen the commercials for that movie, and Courtney _definitely_ didn't look like Bella-what's-her-face. That girl was like a freaking zombie, not to mention Courtney was way hotter. I looked over at Bridgett to see what she thought of this, and judging by the fact that she was wearing the same skeptical expression I was, I knew she didn't agree.

'Who then' I mouthed over to het, not wanting to ruin Geoff and DJ's fun, but she just shrugged her shoulders, having not figured it out yet either.

The four of us were so wrapped up in our epic preschooler game that we didn't notice when the violin that had been playing in the background for the last hour suddenly stopped.

"Hey, shouldn't you guys be practicing?" Courtney snipped over at Geoff and DJ, who hung their heads, embarrasses. They mumbled some unintelligible reply and got up out of their seats to continue practicing their talents. It was almost sad; they looked like two very masculine puppies that just got caught peeing on their old lady's carpet. Not that I held it against them, because Courtney could just do that to people. It was actually really hot.

"Well, I guess that means our game is over." Bridgett said to me, cheerily grabbing her bag of cookies and stuffing a whole one into her mouth.

"Looks like it to me, unless we call it a tie and split the pot?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her. But then, the two of us looked at our sorry excuse for a bet and decided against it. I stuffed my knife back in my pocket, and grabbed one Geoff's sodas, popping the top and leaning back against the table so I could look out at everyone else. This time, it was Bridgett giving me the questioning look, but I just shrugged it off.

"What? If the guy didn't want anyone stealing them then he shouldn't of left an entire six pack on the table for anyone to take." I defended. In a game like this you couldn't just leave a delicacy such as soda just sitting out on the table. Chef's food made anyone desperate for some good grub.

"You do have a point." She replied, thinking about it before grinning and grabbing a soda herself, taking a big gulp and sighing at the taste.

"So Duncan? Have you got your eye on anyone special here?" she asked, her voice somewhat giddy at the prospect of gossip, like any girl. Even someone like Bridgett couldn't resist some good gossip; liking crap like that was programmed into every freaking girls DNA.

"Sorry, but I don't talk about girly shit by that. This is _me_ you're speaking with here." I told her, causing her to sigh.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'll change the subject. So, what would your talent have been if it _didn't_ have to be legal anyways?"

"Well, I don't think you really want to know that."

"And why not?" she question, her curiosity peaking.

"Just trust me on this one." I said, smiling haughtily.

Just as I finished saying that, DJ flew by, doing a split in mid air, only he messed up on his aim, and fell of the stage in that same position. Neither Bridgett nor I could hold back our laughter for that one. Bridgett actually snorted soda out her nose it was so funny.

"I'm okay." DJ called from the ground, getting up and dusting himself off. Well, so much for winning the talent contest.

* * *

Courtney POV

_Stupid, unfocused, dim-witted boys. _ Why was it that all boys had such a lack of focus? While _I'd_ been practicing my violin for the last hour, DJ and Geoff had been off playing cards. Cards! And it wasn't even a good card game either! It was go fish. IT WAS FREAKING GO FISH!

But I was just going to stay calm, and practice. I only snipped at them once, and that was all I was going to say. From now on I was just going to continue to fill the air with the sweet music of my violin. Except, the boys slacking was seriously making that hard to do. Even after saying something to them, they had their focus on practicing their talents for a mere 20 minutes before they started slacking off again. Geoff was currently messing with his skateboard, while DJ had actually gone back to playing cards again! But whatever. I was not going to get mad again, my team thought I was controlling enough already. I was just going to stand here, and play until my fingers bled, or until the challenge started. Whichever came first. Let them slack off, I would win it all for them. And that's when the betting started.

"So, can you really stand on your hands for twenty minutes?" Geoff asked, looking up from his skateboard to talk to Bridgett.

"Wanna bet that I can't?" she asked, taking a big bite out of his chocolate bar. She had already eaten her way through the chips.

"Oh your on!"

"I want in on that action." Harold piped in. Oh good god. Were they ever going to practice?

"Yeah, that's like virtually impossible." claimed DJ. Okay, I was trying not to listen to them, but they were just so loud.

"Anty up." Bridgett told all of them, and they started emptying your pockets out onto the table.

_Just tune them out Courtney. Think of how great it's going to feel when you win this thing._ Although I could still hear them, at least now I was in my happy place.

"Okay, twenty minutes starting… now!" Bridgett said, tipping over and up onto her hands. I was so far into my fantasy that I wasn't that aware when Bridgett walked passed me, only stopping my playing for a second to glace at her before starting up again. So naturally, when I heard the whooshing sound above I head, I looked up, not knowing what it was, only to realize that it was one of the heavy stage lights speeding right towards my face.

And then, the whole world went black.

* * *

I woke up to the steady sound of feet thumping on the ground, vaguely aware of my body rocking up and down as I faded back into consciousness. Waking up a bit more I felt two warm spots on my back, that distinctly felt like arms, and seemed to be supporting all my weight. I blinked my eyes a few times, getting rid of the sleepiness from them, only to be met by brilliant blue ones.

Duncan didn't notice that I had woken up at first, so for a while I just laid there, staring at him, no sure what was happened of how I had gotten into his arms. But I could only be still for so long, and once I stirred, he noticed and looked down at me, a smirk coming onto his face.

"Hiya Princess. Enjoying the view?" He asked cockily.

"W-what happened." I asked, still slightly dazed, his pig-headed comment not fully registering in my brain. But then, waking up a little bit more, I realized that I was being carried by _Duncan_. That really woke me up. "And why the hell are you carrying me?! Put me down!" I struggled to get out of his arms but he held me back.

"Haha, yeah, I don't think that's such a good idea sweetheart." He said, attempting to sound lighthearted but his tone still came of serious. And, correct me if I'm wrong, was that concern I heard in his voice?

"I'm perfectly capable of carry myself, thanks." I had already been carried by Duncan once today, and the was enough to last me a lifetime. Although I had to admire his strength…

"Okay, suit yourself." He propped me up onto my feet, and immediately started to walk away from him on impulse. Only, I stared getting dizzy and lightheaded, wobbling a bit before loosing my balance and plummeting towards the earth. After only falling a few inches, Duncan managed to catch me, saving me from falling onto my face.

"Probably not to smart of an idea to walk after getting smack in the head by a thirty pound stage light." Said Duncan, scooping me back up into his arms an continuing to walk in the direction he was going. Then it all cam flooding back to me. Bridgett had gotten her foot caught on a loose rope, untangling a stage light (which if you ask me should have been more secure. Did they really care that little for our safety on this show? Wait, don't answer that.) crashing down on my while I was practicing my violin. Hold on a sec, my violin!

"What happened to my violin?!?!" I said rather frantically, my heartbeat racing at the thought of it being smashed.

"Well… lets just say you probably won't be competing with it in the talent competition. Or any competition again for that matter." I let that sink in for awhile, the fact that my violin was gone. And then I burst out laughing. "Wait, what?" said a rather confused Duncan.

"I hated that thing." I explained after taking a few deep breaths to calm down. "The only reason I have it is because my parents forced me to play. If I wasn't so damn good at playing would have done that to the thing _years_ ago."

"Well, thank god for that. I don't' think I could have taken you playing that thing the entire time we're at camp. Violins are just so _annoying._"

"Yeah, well after so many years your forced to tolerate it. Or at least to some degree." I sighed, thinking about how my parents were going to react when brought my violin home in pieces. I could just picture their faces… Then, suddenly it dawned on me that I was being carried to somewhere by I juvenile delinquent, and I had no idea where."Hey, where are we going anyways?"

"You just got your head pounded in by a stage light Courtney. Where do you think we're going?"

"But I'm perfectly fine!" I whined, sounding like a stuck up five year old

"Sure you are" he paused to roll his eyes at me, and then his tone got much more serious, his gaze more intense.."You couldn't even walk you when I set you down. What if you have a concussion?"

"I do not have a concussion Duncan! And I defiantly don't need to go see a nurse, so your just wasting you time."

"Yes you do. Although I doubt anyone this show hired for that job is going to be much help." Then he snickered at some thought going through his head. "Actually, on their budget, I wouldn't be surprised if they hired Chef to be the…" Duncan trailed off as we reached the nurse's tent, staring at something inside.

"What is it…" I asked, tearing my gaze from his face and looking into the tent. As soon as I did, I immediately new what had captured his attention. At first I was so shocked, I could only stare, like Duncan. But after about five seconds the two of us burst out into hysterical laughter.

"What are you maggots laughing at?!" Chef yelled at us. As it turned out Duncan was right; Chef was the nurse. And he had on, get this, a white nurse's dress, including white heels and a little white hat too. It was scary and funny at the same time. I seriously wonder how much they had to pay Chef to get him to do that.

"N-nothing sir!" Duncan tired to choke it out with mock seriousness, but failed miserably, his laughter ruining the effect.

"Listen you little punks." Chef said to us in a menacing tone, getting up in our faces, his muscles so tense you could the veins popping out of his neck. "I can either help you get better, or I can make your condition a whole lot worse, you got that?" That shut us right up, and the only move either of us made was the slight nod of Duncan's head to show we understood. "Good. Now go set her down on that table over there." Chef now sported a very fake smile, which was really sadistic looking. It was really starting to freak me out.

Duncan complied with Chef's demands and set me down on one of those paper covered doctors office bed. The paper crinkling beneath as my weight was transferred over to the table was the only sound in the tent. Chef walked over to me, shining a flashlight in both my eyes, lifting up my lids.

"Mmm-hmmm" he groaned, and grabbed a stethoscope from the side table. "Breath." He directed as he placed the cold metal to the skin. I took a raspy breath as he listened to my lungs through the stethoscope. He then propped my up, supporting all of my weight with his arms, as the then placed the metal on back. After a few more breaths he set me back down and took the stethoscope out of his ears.

"Well," he began, now in a much calmer mood. Or at least as calm a mood that Chef could ever be in. "looks like you fine. Just let me bandage you up and you'll be good to go." I shot Duncan an 'I told you so' look and he just shook his head at me. "You lost a lot of blood, so you might want to get some rest." Wait, what?!?

I didn't notice the blood encrusted piece of black fabric tied around my head until Chef removed it. The material looked like it could be part of someone's clothing. I looked over at Duncan to ask him how it had gotten there when I notice the sleeve missing from his coal black sweatshirt. I kind of found myself a bit touched that he had done that for me, and felt a blush creeping onto my face. Thankfully, Chef walked back up to me, blocking Duncan's view of me before he had the chance to notice.

Chef dabbed the gash on my head with some sterilizing liquid. I flinched form the sting of it, and the smell wasn't too pleasant either, but at least I covered up the stench of my blood. Chef wrapped some white gauze around my head and taped it at the end. I didn't' even want the think about how horrible the thing must have made me look.

"Alright, your good to go." Chef said to me, putting away the gauze and the sterilizer. "You can rest here for awhile until you can walk again. Your gonna need someone to stay here and keep an eye on you though, cuz I need to go and cook all of you little scoundrels some lunch."

"I can stay with her, Chief." Duncan said, walking over closer to me. Under his breath I heard him mumble something about there being nothing better to do, but Chef didn't seem to catch it.

"Alright then. Lunch is in an hour, don't miss it, cuz I don't do room service." Chef told us, getting up from his seat, and with one last glare at us, he walked out of the tent. And as soon as he was gone, Duncan pulled up a chair next to my bedside, flipped it around, straddling the backrest and folding the arms on the top of it.

"I don't think I ever want to see Chef in a dress ever again. That, was _scaring_." Duncan said, causing us both to laugh, mine being a little weaker, already feeling tired again.

"Yeah, same here." I yawned, relaxing farther onto the bed I was laying on. Duncan's smile softened, as he looked at me and chuckled a bit.

"Well, I'll just let you sleep then." He said quietly, brushing a piece of hair off my face.

"Mmmp-hmmm" I mumbled lazily, my eyelids already fluttering closed as I drifted off into sleep. The last thing I saw before blacking out were those penetrating baby blue eyes…

* * *

Duncan POV

There was something very unsettling about watching Courtney sleep, but yet enticing at the same time. This was probably the first and only time I had seen Courtney calm, which I think was what was so troubling about it, since the expression really didn't seem to belong there. But, at the same time, it was alluring to watch her like that, _because_ it was something had never seen on her before, and probably never would, since I was addicted to irritating her and all.

I sat there for awhile watching her like that, before finally waking up from my trance and putting in my iPod. This was Courtney I was staring at after all. Yes, she was hot, fun to aggravate, and apparently an incredible kisser from the short little preview she had given me the other day, but nothing was ever going to happen with her. And if it was, it was going to take a lot of work to get her over to my side.

_Actually, that might be a fun little project to work on…_

After only about an hour, lunch was announced over the loudspeaker. Surprisingly, it was loud enough to hear over my blaringly loud music, and I thought for sure it would have woken Courtney up. But, when I looked over at her she was still fast asleep, to deep into dreaming to have been aroused. I didn't want to want to wake her up if she was really still that drained from the injury. Like Chef had said, she lost a lot of blood. But, if I didn't wake her up now, she wouldn't get to eat.

_I guess I could always bring her lunch back to the tent for her._ Yeah, that would work. I could still eat lunch with everyone else too, since it didn't look like she was going to wake up anytime soon.

I quietly crept out of the tent and headed over to the lunch room. The amphitheater was closer to the Lodge then the nurse's tent, so by the time I got there no one was in line, and I was able to get my food right away and go sit down.

"Hey Duncan, what's up?" DJ asked as I sat down at the table.

"Where's Courtney?" Bridgett chimed in immediately after, obvious worry for what she might have done to her friend seeping through into her voice.

"Calm down, she's fine, just sleeping." I told her. She let out a sigh of relief hearing this, and opened her mouth to ask more but didn't get the chance, because she was interrupted by two very loud squealing girls.

"Oh my god, don't you just lover her swimsuit?" Sadie asked Katie, pointing to a picture of some girl in a magazine. They really needed to get a life.

"I know! I just _love _red bikinis!" replied Katie. Ah, red bikinis, good memories. Courtney really did look smoking in that thing. I turned to look at the picture the two girls were looking at, curious to see if whoever it was looked as good in it as Courtney had, and froze. Because the girl in the picture was wearing the exact same bikini Courtney had been wearing, and the girl in it, besides the blond hair could have been her twin.

"Courtney Addison always has _the best _cloths!"

"I know right?" I glanced over at Bridgett to see she had the same shocked expression on her face that I had. I guess we had figured out who Courtney looked like. Seriously, the girl could have been her twin. Throw in the read bikini and I could have sworn it _was _her if I didn't know any better. But of course, I did know better, and there was no way Courtney Addison would go on a show like this. Being put through hell all for 100 g's, not really her style. The girl made at lest ten times that much for acting in just _one_ of her cheesy movies.

Plus, Courtney was stubborn, but even she wasn't _that_ bad. I mean, I don't even listen for that kind of stuff and even I had heard how Ms. Addison had throw a temper tantrum over how her parents had gotten her the wrong color Ferrari convertible for her fifteenth b-day. Yeah, that's right, _fifteenth_ birthday. She got an Italian sports car just to practice with her learners permit. The girl was a totally bitch. No way was that Courtney. But apparently, Bridgett didn't' think so.

"Hey, do you guys mind if I borrow that?" Bridgett asked Katie and Sadie, who momentarily paused in their squealing to look up at her.

"Sure! You can go ahead and keep it. We've got _lots _more magazines back at the cabin." Katie replied cheerily.

"Thanks." Katie held out the magazine and Bridgett took it from her hands, examining the picture of Courtney more closely.

I only finished half of my food before dumping my tray and getting up from the table. I just didn't have the apatite for Chefs gruel today. I got back in line and got Courtney a tray, putting as many fruits and thing that weren't cooked by Chef on her tray as I could. Once it looked like I had enough for a decent sized meal, I started heading for the door, but was stopped by Trent.

"Hey Duncan, what's up man?" he asked me, a friendly smile on his face like always.

"Just taking some food to Courtney. She got hit tin the head with a stage light earlier." I explained to him, since he hadn't been there to see it, being our competition and all.

"Ooo, ouch. Well, I hope she recovers okay."

"Yeah, me too." I paused, thinking about how bad Courtney had gotten hurt, then started talking again. "So, what's up with you?" I knew there had to be a reason for him talking to me. Guys like him and guys like me didn't exactly just walk up and start talking to each other.

"Oh, well, I was just wondering what that whole, you know, makeup thing was about this monring." Oh god, not that again.

"Two words: Prank War" I said, holding up my hand and ticking the words on my fingers to emphasizes my point.

"Guys vs. Girls?"

"Yup."

"Sweet dude!" he exclaimed, and we banged knuckles. "You guys have your retaliation planned?"

"What's it to you?" I asked him, a bit skeptical. Why would he even want to know that unless he was working for the girls?

"Well, I was thinking, I know all the girls, from both teams, are in on it, and I know some of the Gopher guys would love to get in on it too." Okay, now we were talking.

"Walk with me Trent." I told him, leading him out the door. Once I was far enough away from the Lodge, I filled him in on our latest plan to get back at the girls, checking over my shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one else was listening. After I was done, I could tell Trent was going to have a lot of fun with this war.

"That's awesome! The guys are defiantly going to love it." Trent exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

"Always glad to have some new recruits." I joked with him, shrugging my shoulders. "Now, if you'll excuse me I gotta go get this food here to Princess."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem. I'll see you at the challenge." And with a wave of his hand, he waked away, leaving me to walk back to where Courtney was sleeping by myself. I popped my headphones in my ears and started heading over to the nurse's tent, not really paying that much attention to my surroundings. So it was no surprise that I didn't see the short little brown haired girl until I practically ran into her.

"Sorry!" exclaimed the girl frantically. "Are you okay?"her words came out in a rush as she looked over my body to see if she had done any damage. Although, I didn't see how a 5'4"-5'5" girl could have possibly done any damage to someone like me, but whatever.

"I'm fine." I told her, then looked at the tray of food I had picked out for Courtney that was now lying scattered in the dirt. "But my foods not."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I can go get you some more if you want. Would that be okay?" I looked up at he girl and then something dawned on me. I had never seen this girl before now, and the pass around her neck meant she must have been an intern for the show. An intern with access to the food tents.

"Hey, wait, your one of the interns that's always getting Chris coffee, right?"

"Yes!" she said, a big smile on her face as she vigorously nodded her head.

"Then you know where all the good food is then, don't you?"

"Well… yeah." A worried look crossed her face, as if she knew what I was going to ask her and wasn't happy about it. "But we're not allowed to eat any of it! It's all for the crew members, we just have to set if out for them." She added hurriedly. "Stupid crew hogging all the good food. We only get your leftovers!" Wow, who knew there were actually people on this show being treated worse then we were?

"Well, look. You see, there's this girl, who earlier today got his in the head with one of the amphitheater stage lights-"

"Courtney, right?! I know, it was all the interns have been talking about for the last hour." She jumped in cutting me off, then realized that she had. "Oh, sorry, continue."

"Yeah, well anyways, that food you just knocked over, it was for her. And I know that she's be really happy if she didn't have to eat any more of Chef disgusting sloop."

"Oh, that is so sweet!" I was about to stop her and say my _real _reason for wanting food (because I was _not_ sweet), but I realized that letting her think this might actually help me get her to get me and Courtney some good food, so I stopped myself. And it was a good thing I did, because I was right."Well, I guess I might be able to help you… but just this once!"

"Thanks." I said, giving her a genuine smile.

"Your welcome." She said, smiling back. "Just wait here and I'll go get it for you. Chris will kill us interns if I show you where it is and food starts mysteriously disappearing. Okay?" but she didn't'wait for an answer, instead going off to get us some food. I was tempted to follower her, but decided against it. Just this was already pushing my luck. I waited there for a good twenty minutes before she finally came back, balancing two gigantic trays piled full of the most delicious looking food I had seen in weeks. You name it, it was on there.

"Here, take it!" she said, and I could tell she was trying not to fall over, and once I took the trays I could tell why. The were _heavy_. Really, really, heavy. She had put a hell load of stuff on there. I'd have to remember to come up with a way to thank her later.

"Wow, this looks great. Thanks…"

"Sarah." She replied with a smile. I got the feeling this girl was almost always happy. Or just really emotional. After having to deal with Courtney, I was hoping it was the former.

"Well, then thanks Sarah."

"My pleasure." And with that, still smiling, she happily skipped off in the direction she was originally going. Now balancing two rather heavy trays of food, I walked back to the nurse's tent, setting down the two trays on a nearby table, and pushing them closer to the bed.

Before anything else, I saw Courtney's nose scrunch up, obviously smelling the food and knowing something was out of place. Soon after, she opened her eyes, first looking at me, and then seeing the food, her eyes going wide.

"Duncan! How the hell did you get all that?!" I opened my mouth to speak but she held up a hand to stop me. "Wait, I don't even want to know." I just gave her a cocky smile and chuckled a bit at that.

"So, wanna eat?"

"Yes! I'm freaking starving…. And oh my god is that veggie stir fry?" For the next twenty minutes (yes, we ate so fast that's all it took.) we gorged ourselves on the delicious food, eating every last bite off the trays until our stomachs wanted to explode. It was the best meal we had had in a long time, even better then the buffet from the Awakathon challenge. We just couldn't let any of it go to waste, even if it did mean that are stomachs were now in screaming pain. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt so full.

"That, was _increadible_." Courtney coed, a grin now plastered on her face.

"Tell me about it." I replied, sporting the same grin on my face as well. But of course, Courtney just couldn't let that grin last, the next words out of her mouth already about the challenge again. With that determination of hers, I had to wonder if she ever just relaxed.

"We should probably get back to the amphitheater with the others." she sighed, not seeming happy about it at all.

"Yeah, probably." I agreed, but made no attempt to get up, both of us too full to move. After sitting there for another minute or so, Courtney pushed herself up off the bed, getting to her feet and heading for the door.

"Come on lets go." She said to me, but I just groaned, not wanting to move from this spot for the next several hours. But Courtney was not having any of that, and walked back over to me, taking my arm in her hand and trying to pull me up with no success. "Duncan!" she cried, stomping her food on the ground as she scowled angrily at me.

"Okay, okay, fine, I'll get up." I said, slowly pushing my body up from the chair, and eventually following her out the door. We walked out of the tent and started heading back to the amphitheater, both of us quite for a few minutes until Courtney spoke up and broke the silence.

"Hey Duncan?" she asked me, rather timidly, embarrassed about whatever she was going to say next.

"Yeah Princess?" I said, giving her one of the goofiest smile I could muster, trying to make whatever she was about to say easier to choke out.

"Thanks for carrying me." Her voice was quiet and sincere when she said this, as well as a bit self-conscious. It was a side of Courtney I had never scene before. I like it better when she was angry.

"No problem. Beside, you only weigh like what, 90?" I joked playfully, getting a small laugh out of her.

"Also," she paused, fidgeting with her hands before finishing the rest of the sentence. "I'm sorry about ruining your sweatshirt." This time she blushed, a brilliant and unmistakable crimson.

"Ah, I like it better like this anyways." I told her, looking down at my now ripped sleeve. It actually did look kind of cool. Finally, this got Courtney to really smile, and within no time she had gained her usually confidence back, all thanks to me. Suddenly I just got hit with this really warm feeling, knowing that the smile currently on Courtney's face was solely due to me. It was weird, knowing that I had actually done something to make her happy. Or more then one something. And hey, to tell you the truth, I kinda liked it.

_Whoa, back up here a second. What the hell Duncan? Your turning into a total sap. First carrying her, then the food, and now this? Get a hold of yourself._ I thought to myself, but even thinking this I just couldn't shake that good feeling inside of me. Shit, I was turning into a sap. I was going to have to do something to change that later.

But for now, I couldn't do anything about it, so I just let it go, enjoying the sun on my skin as I walked back to the amphitheater, with Courtney smiling next to me.

* * *

Courtney POV

Once we got back to the amphitheater, the first thing I saw was my violin. My poor, poor violin. It had been smashed by the stage light, broken up into pieces of wood and string, hopelessly irreparable. Seeing it I immediately rushed over to the stage, leaving Duncan behind me. I picked up the broken remains that were my instrument, cradling them to my chest and bursting out into tears.

"Oh, Courtney, it's okay!" Katie cried, rushing over to my side from the other end of the stage, Sadie following close behind. "I'm sure you can fix it once you get home!"

"Yeah Courtney, I'm sure they can!" Sadie told me, giving me a small hug, and Katie doing the same. The two girls had apparently misunderstood my tears, and I couldn't blame them. To anyone else it would seem like I was crying over my violin being smashed, but that was far from the case. Like I had said to Duncan, I hated that thing, but unfortunately, it happened to be are only really chance at winning, meaning are one shot at taking the challenge just got smashed into a million pieces. I sat down on the edge of the stage, Katie and Sadie doing the same as I hugged the remains of my violin to my chest. I continued to cry as the two friends tried to comfort me with their useless promises. Everything was _not_ okay, it was so far from okay I couldn't even begin to explain it to them. Winning meant everything to me and now are only hope had been crushed by a stage light.

Over all of my sobs and the twins comforting words, I heard footsteps walking towards me, and looked up only to see it was Bridgett, the one who had caused this whole mess.

"_You_, you killed my violin!" I whimpered at her in between sobs, and standing up from my seat on the stage steps.

"I didn't mean to!" Bridgett said in a regretful tone, cradling her arms to her chest in a guilty way. "There must be something we can do." She grabbed the broken scraps of wood form my hands, trying to force them back together, but only making them even worse then they were before, the now small splinters slipping through her grasp. This only made me break out into sobs again, wailing for the loss of the challenge. I knew I should have been nicer to Bridgett, but I was so emotionally right now that I wasn't in my right mind, and Bridgett's feelings were the last thing on my list on concerns.

I was so far gone that I wasn't very aware of my surroundings, and the next thing I knew Bridgett, Katie, and Sadie were getting up and walking away and Duncan was standing next to me. On his face was a confused look, but somehow even that still managed to look intimidating as always. I wanted to ask him what had just happened, but I didn't get the chance to before he opened his mouth.

"Okay, what the hell Courtney? I thought you said you hated that thing." He asked me, his voice sounding a bit softer then normal.

"I do!" I whaled, as I continued to sob. "But now we're going to loose the challenge!" Duncan's face went from soft to pissed in an instant when I said that.

"Whoa, okay miss full of her self. "he said, his tone sounding really offended, no longer at all sympathetic. "You really think you're the only one that can win this thing?"

"Well, um, yes." At this point I had stopped sobbing, my voice getting back to normal. I had to admit that now I was a bit embarrassed, because saying that statement out loud I realized it was a really stuck up thing to do. The type of thing people expected from Courtney Addison, which I had promised myself I was _not_ going to do, because I was determined to show those people they were wrong.

"Yeah, well incase you haven't noticed Princess, Geoff's got some pretty mad skills on his board, and DJ's ribbon thing isn't half bad either. We still have a chance at winning this so suck it up and quit your whining already, okay? We don't need you to be a drama queen right now." Wow, that was pretty harsh, even for Duncan. I had an overwhelming erg to yell at him, only I bit my tong, because the sad truth was he was right. I shouldn't be sitting here whining, I should be trying to find a replacement for myself in the challenge, and helping my team win this instead. As I watched Duncan walk away, I couldn't help but feel grateful to him for yelling at me, because it was exactly what I needed to get myself back in the game. Although, I would never admit that to him of course.

I got back up from the stage steps, standing upright and brushing off the remaining splinters on my blouse that had clung to me. I composed my expression, took a few deep breaths, and started to clean up the mess my violin had left in the grass, giving me a bit more time to calm down before I had to deal with the competition again.

I picked up all of the pieces, looking carefully to see I had the all, and headed over to throw them away in the trash can. But, unfortunately for me, the only trash bin anywhere near here was the dumpster behind the Main Lodge, and that was quite a ways away from here. I sighed to myself, turning in the direction of the lodge. It took me a good ten minutes to get there, since it was entirely on the opposite end of camp, and another ten minutes to get back. And in the time I was gone, apparently it was long enough for all of the Gophers to have walked to the amphitheater, because when I arrived almost all of them were now there with us.

The people competing were all practicing back stage, will the rest of each of our teams had gone off, having better things to do then sit around and watch the competition. Trent, Heather, and Justin were the Gophers that were competing against us in the show, and seeing their talents I suddenly felt a lot better about our chances at winning this thing. Heather, dressed in a tutu, was doing some kind of dance routine, and although it was good, it didn't' seem like the kind of thing Chef would go for. Trent was playing the guitar, and he was actually really good, but so was Geoff's skateboarding. And as for Justin, well I think his talent was just being beautiful (which if you ask me wasn't much of a talent, but this competition hadn't really enforced rules so far, so I doubt they were going to start now.). I looked around to see if there was anyone I could talk to here, wanting to stay backstage so I could keep and eye on things, and spotted Bridgett, now with a bag of cookies in her hands. Man, she polished off that bag of chips fast.

"Hey Bridgett!" I called to her, as I walked up on the stage, standing next to her as she sat on the edge of the stage.

"Hi Courtney!" she replied, smiling at me, then her expression suddenly changed, becoming sympathetic. "Sorry again about breaking you violin, I really didn't mean too."

"It's okay," I said, giving her a real smile. "I'm over it, really. It's not like I was our only chance at winning or anything. Geoff is really talented on his skateboard to." And this time I really did believe it. Who knew Duncan was so good at giving pep talks?

"You know it." Geoff added, who came flying over on his skateboard. He stopped just before he hit me, propping up his board and continuing to twirl it around in its side. "So who's taking you spot in the show anyways?"

"We haven't decided that yet. Do you have any suggestions?" I asked him, but Bridgett cut in before he had the chance to respond.

"Okay, I know I'm not as good as you are at the violin," Bridgett said, while simultaneously stuffing cookies in her mouth. "but I can do this!" Okay, even though I didn't believe her, she just sounded so enthusiastic and sure of herself that I had to let her in! Besides, it wasn't like anyone else had any better talents to offer up. But, I didn't get the chance to tell her that, because as soon as she finished speaking, Heather walked up to us, a smile on her evil little face. That was never a good sign.

"Bridgett!" she called out, that fake smile of hers plastered across her face. "Oh too bad about the accident. I guess your going to get your fifteen seconds of fame after all!" Oh, she did not just go there.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bridgett asked Heather in a very cold and accusing tone, and the expression to match. By this time Geoff had already retreated to the other end of the stage, not wanting to get in the middle of this soon to be cat fight.

"Oh nothing. No one would sabotage their own teammate." She put her fingers on her chin as if she was thinking. "Unless they maybe felt threatened."

"Hey!" Bridgett said, gabbing a finger up at her from where she was sitting on the stage. "Maybe that's how you Gophers operate, but the Killer Bass have more class then that. _We're a team."_ Go Bridgett! Take that Heather!!

"Well I guess you'll go down as a team then too." Heather replied in a mocking tone, then her voice gained that sickly sweet sound to it again. "Oh, and easy on the chips, you wouldn't want to sink that surf board of yours now would you?" Apparently, that was the last straw for Bridgett, because she took the back of cookies in her hand and threw them at Heathers hard as hard as she could. Oh yeah, Bridgett and I were defiantly going to be friends for a _long_ time.

"Hey, you better watch it surfer girl!" Heather cried, as she brushed the cookie crumbs off of her tutu.

"So do you, Bitch." I quipped back at her, no longer able to hold my tong.

"Oh, it's on now, Ms. Anger management!" she yelled at me, temporally loosing her cool, but then catching herself, and regaining her usual breezy and confident aura. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go practice." With one last fake smile, she turned on her heels and walked off to the other end of the stage swinging her hips as she went. I smiled smugly, knowing we had gotten to her, and turned to look at Bridgett to see that she was doing the same. We high fived on another, giggling slightly.

"Well, I have a feeling she won't be bothering us anytime soon." Bridgett said, still smirking.

"Not if she knows what's good for her." I replied, sitting down on the stairs next to her. "And don't take that thing about the cookies seriously. I bet everyone else would be stuffing their faces if they had some decent food. I know I was earlier today with Duncan."

"Don't worry, I don't. It's Heather; I know by now not to take any of what she says seriously." She said, shrugging off the comment. Then suddenly, her face became confused, as if something I had just said finally registered in her head. "Whoa, wait, hold on a second, you and Duncan scored some _real_ food? How did that happen? And how did you get it? Spill!" Oh, I just had to say that didn't I? Me and my big mouth.

"Um, yeah, we did. I don't really know how, he just sort of showed up with it." I said, but then backtracked when I realized it was coming off like Duncan liked me. "But it's not like he did it for me or anything, I mean he got food out of it too."

"But he still brought some for _you_ too. And that seems very un-Duncan like too me." She replied, smiling. Oh would she just cut it out already!! Just look at what my big mouth had gotten me into now!

"It was just because I was hurt! Just because he brought two trays doesn't mean that-"

"Wait he brought _two _trays?" The smile on her face got even bigger, and more knowing then it had been before, it that was even possible.

"Ugg, no, no, no, you're totally getting the wrong idea! Lets just drop this, okay?" I knew that to anyone else, it _would_ look like we liked each other (especially if she knew about that damn kiss), but that wasn't the case, not at all. It was hard to explain, unless you knew what had gone on between us up on that cliff the other night. You see, the thing is, we both had crappy parents, that quite frankly didn't give a damn about us. They only cared about molding us into what they wanted us to be, rather then just accepting us the way we were. And having that in common, we felt sort of bonded by that fact, in a looking out for each other kind of way, almost a mutual respect. _Almost. _Not that we were friend or anything; we would never be. It was rather an understanding of the other's situation, that made us feel compelled to help each other out a bit. Like how I had given Duncan the make up remover today, because I certainly didn't have too. I could have just as well stood there and never even told him about the stuff, and let him get humiliated like everyone else, but I didn't. And that same reason is why Duncan had brought me food, nothing more.

But of course, I couldn't tell Bridgett this; she just wouldn't get it. Unless you were in our situation you just couldn't understand it. So as much as I hated to do so, I was going to have to let her go on thinking that we like each other in that little messed up fantasy world of hers. Friends could be really annoying at times.

"Okay, okay, fine, i'll let it go." Bridgett sighed, finally moving on to another topic. "So, in other exciting Camp Wanawaka news, what do you think the boys are going to plan to get back at us?"

"Hmmm.." I paused, thinking a bit, but not coming up with any plausible ideas. "I don't know, but it had to be something good after the whole make up fiasco." Remembering this the two of us laughed.

"Can you believe how ridiculous they looked?" Bridgett said in between laughs. "I even saw Heather snap a picture of them. I can't wait see what it looks like when she uploads it to facebook!"

"Oh, the joy of modern technology."

"I hear that." And with a few final laughs we were finally done, moving onto other things. "Hey, that reminds me, did you hear about that came out with _another_ generation of iPhone? It's only been like a year since they came out with the last one!"

"I know!" I replied enthusiastically. "That's just plain ridiculous! It's all another one of Apples stupid money making schemes…" we continued talking about stuff like that for the next few hour or so (a large majority of it spent ranting about how ridiculous Apple was. Although it was a bit hypocritical now that I think about it considering we both have iPods). It seemed like no time at all before the 8 hours of prep time were up, and Chris was walking on stage to start off the challenge.

"Where's my half calf double shot caramel latte!" Chris called out as he walked on stage, the camera crew having just finished setting up their equipment. Bridgett and I walked over to the curtain, peaking out heads out to get a look at the action about to ensue.

"I've got it!" called out two people at the same time, as two interns rushed on stage, a coffee cup in their hands. One of them was a tall blond boy, with a subtle build, and who from here actually looked pretty hot. The other, was a short girl with long brown hair who was happily bouncing up the steps, a smile on her face as if she could care less that she possible had one of the worst internships in the history of the world.

The boy reached Chris first, holding out the cup to him, looking rather wary. Chris took a sip and immediacy spit it out.

"Ewwww! I that's probably the most bitter caramel latte I've ever had in my entire life!" Chris shoved the cup back at him, and the girl, who had now reached Chris, held out her cup to him, and he gladly took it, taking a bit swig to get the taste of the previous latte out. "Mmmmm… now that's what I'm talking about!" The girl just smiled at him one last time, and went happily walking off the stage, as the boy slummed his shoulders, shuffling sulking off after her.

"Okay everybody." Called out who I assumed was the director, watching all of the cameras on several monitors behind the bleachers, just out of the cameras' views. "Quite on the set! Camera rolling? Speed… and action!"

"It's the TDI showdown extravaganza!" announced Chris to the cameras, and I assumed they would add in some cheesy intro music of graphics to this later. "Welcome to the very first Camp Wawa-"

"Cut, cut, cut!" yelled the director angrily. "Camera four, your white balance is off, and camera 7 needs to open up it's f-stop. And Chris will you pleas either finish you coffee or something to GET IT OUT OF THE DAMN SHOT!!!" Well, looks like someone didn't get enough coffee today.

"Oh come on people!" Chris yelled back at everyone, as he took on long swig off his coffee, downing the remaining contents. "Can't we just get it right the first time already?" He crushed the now empty paper cup, hurling it off the stage in a random direction, hitting one of the interns right in the face, who shouted his complaints at Chris.

"Well it's not my problem that you can't duck now is it?" Chris replied to him, chuckling.

"Sadistic much?" I whispered to Bridgett, still standing next to me, who nodded her head.

"Alright, let's try this again." The director called out to everyone. "Quiet on the set! Camera rolling? Speed… action!"

"It's the TDI showdown extravaganza!" began Chris with his intro again. "Welcome to the very first Camp Wawanakwa talent contest, where six campers will show off their skills, and desperately try not to humiliate themselves. First up for the Screaming Gophers is Justin!" Chris held his hand out to the right side of the stage, opposite of where Bridgett and I were peeking out at the stage, where Justin emerge from.

The Gopher's cheered for him as he walked out, his back to the camera, and stopped in the center of the stage. A spotlight clicked on, covering Justin in a bright stream of light, illuminating every one of his perfect features. Music clicked on from the speakers above the stage, which was Justin's cue to start. He whipped around, making his hair fly as he struck various model poses around the stage. A couple interns were standing just blew the stage, flashing lights at him to simulate camera flashes. After a minute or so, the routine finally ended with Justin collapsing down on a chair, pulling a rope that released a bucket of water on him. He flipped his hair and sent a smile at the camera. I'm sure that when this episode aired tomorrow night girls would be fainting all across the country.

"Okay, I don't know what that was," Chris said, walking back on the stage at the Gopher's clapped, and put his arm over Justin's shoulder. "but _daaang_ you've got some _moves_ dude." He paused, waiting for all the commotion to die down before continuing. "First up for the Killer Bass, make some noise for the big guy, DJ" a whole whopping 3 people in the stands burst out cheering for him, and two of them were Katie and Sadie, and considering they share a brain, I don't even think you can count them as two separate people. Great team spirit guys, just great.

DJ came leaping on the stage in that bright white spandex leotard of his, twirling around his pink ribbon. I had to admit, he was actually doing a pretty good job, maybe even scores some serious points for our team. But then, on his next jump his ribbon got caught around his ankle, causing him to trip. He managed to regain his balance, the ribbon still wrapped around his ankles, and ripped it off at the last second, striking his ending pose. But it was a useless attempts; it was over for DJ.

"Dainty, and yet masculine." Chris commented, walking back onto the stage. "Let's see what Grand Master Chef has to say about that." He paused, listening into his earpiece to hear the score, while views would probable see that stupid Chef-o-Meter thing above his head. "Oooo, not much" This sent DJ walking off the stage, over towards us, his shoulders slumped. "So, with two acts down it's four to go, with the Screaming Gophers screaming ahead. Next on deck, Trent. Take it away my bro."

"This one goes out to someone special here at camp." Trent said, and was now sitting on a stool near the center of the stage.

"_They say, that we've only got summer. And I say that…_" Trent sang, as I strummed his guitar. As he played I saw Gwen off in the stands, a huge smile on her face, knowing the song had been dedicated to her.

Trent finished up the last few notes of the song, the Gophers clapped, and Chris rushed back on the stage, eager to be back in the spotlight again.

"Nice work, I'm liking your style dude. And so does Grand Master Chef!" Oh come on already! Why couldn't he just tell us the damn scores or something! The suspense was killing me. "Alright quit hogging my light already!" With this Chris pushed Trent off the stage, so that the camera now only had him in view. "Three down and three to go, and the Killer Bass are totally sucking so far! Now, lets hear it for Bridgett!"

_What?!?! We've only had one act! How can you say we suck?!?! _Stupid, sadistic, pretty boy.

"Are you sure you can do this?" I asked Bridgett, who whipped her head around to look at me, her stomach gurgling like it had been since the show started. After all that food, I doubt she could keep it down if she did this act, especially with how nervous she was. She'd been fidgeting for the past five minutes, and that was really unlike her.

"Defiantly. No, no, I'm great! .... Really" she replied, but her voice still sounded unsure, like she said the words to try and convincer herself, not just me. I gave her an uncertain look of my own, before she got up on her hands and walked out on stage.

I pulled back the curtains to peek out at the stage once again, and watched as Bridgett stumbled her way onto the stage on her hands, looking a little green. As soon as she got out there, she let out a loud burp. Not long after she let out another one, accompanied by a large pile of vomit. I cringed at the smell, as the repulsive green barf landed on the stage in front of here. But Bridgett had eaten a lot of junk food, and of course she wasn't going to vomit just once.

"What the Hell is going on out there?" Heather asked me, and appalled sound in her voice, coming over next to me to peek out at the stage, just as Bridgett barfed once again, this time flying out across the stage and hitting Owen in the bleachers. I heard Heather gasp next to me, as I covered my mouth trying to prevent my own lunch from coming up.

"I'm hit, I'm hit!" Owen yelled from the stands, jumping up from his seat and rushing to the bathroom as fast as he could go. The next one hit the twins, covering them in completely. Katie lost it, and ended up barfing all over Sadie, before the two ran shrieking and screaming off to the bathrooms like Owen had done. Finally, the last blow hit Lashawna, who thankfully was much less squeamish then the rest of us, and calmly got up to go and clean herself up, her face contorted in to a disgusting look.

Bridgett, now having emptied the entire contents of her stomach on our fellow campers, started to try and come down from her hands, only to slip in her owe barf, loosing her balance and sending her flying off the stage, directly into Tyler's arms.

"Hey, puke on your own boyfriend!" Lindsey screeched at Bridgett, running over to her. Hearing this, Heather ran out on the stage, infuriated.

"On your own _what_, Lindsey?" Heather said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I didn't say boyfriend!" Lindsey replied hurriedly, her voice high in a way that clearly indicated that she was lying.

And this was about the time Chris cut in, once again stealing back the spotlight as he creped on the stage, choosing every step carefully to try and avoid getting barf of his brand name sneakers.

"Clean up on aisle four, five, and six!" he said, his voice sounding funny from him plugging his nose, the stench of the vomit intolerable. I was doing the same thing. "In the meantime, we'll take a short break to hose the joint down." And with that the cameras turned off, and Chris jump off the stage, getting himself as far away from the stench as possible. "Will one of you interns _please_ clean this mess up!"

I didn't need to stick around for the clean up (or to smell that vomit either. Fyi, Chef's lunch? Yeah, it smells even worse the second time you get a whiff of it.) so I decided to head down to the bathrooms and help Bridgett out. The whole thing had to have been traumatizing for her, being broadcast on national television and everything. I walked down to the bathrooms, taking my time, knowing that after that Bridgett was going to be in the shower for a _long_ time. By the time I got down there, Lashawna and the twins were already done with their shower, walking out of the bathrooms, there wet hair sticking to their backs as they went to get some dry cloths, having run straight to the shower and not picked up any. I walked into the bathrooms, and walked up to the shower the only shower that was still running, knocking in the stall door.

"Someone's in here!" Bridgett called out from inside.

"Bridgett, it's Courtney." I told her, raising my voice so she could hear it over the water. "do you want me to bring you some clean cloths or something?"

"That would be great, Court, thanks." She yelled back at me. I started walking out of the bathroom, and saw her vomit covered cloths strew out across the floor, and debated in my head for a second if I should pick them up, but then I got a whiff of them and decided against it. I went back over to our cabin, opening up her suitcase and picking out something new for Bridgett to wear. After a had put together a very Bridgett-looking outfit, I went back over to the bathrooms, walking in just as Bridgett had turned off the shower.

"Here you go." I said to her as I slipped her cloths under the shower.

"Thanks!" she replied, as she took the cloths from my hands. After changing into them, she swung open the door and wrung out now wet hair before pulling it back into her usual ponytail.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Sure! But can we swing by the Lodge first, I'm kind of hunger now." The reminder of what had happened sent Bridgett blushing, as she ducked her head.

"Of course!" I gave her a big smile, and put my hand around her shoulder, leading her out the door. Bridgett got an apple from the Lodge (I doubt I was going to see her eating junk food again for a _long_ time.) finishing it just before we got back to the amphitheater.

By the time we got back, all of the vomit had been cleaned up, and with everyone back in the stands they were ready to start the show again.

"Places people, it's show time!" Chris yelled out to all of us. Bridgett and I hurried back stage, once again, peeking our heads out of the curtain to see the show, just as the cameras started rolling again.

"Welcome back!" Chris said to the cameras. "Okay, so in a strange turn of events, Bridgett's chunk blowing fest managed to score two thumbs up from Grand Master Chef. But it's not enough to pull ahead of the Screaming Gophers who hold the lead with Trent's love song." Finally he is actually giving us some numbers!! "So, without farther delay, here she is for the leader, Heather!" Heather walked out onto the stage, sitting down on a stool and holding something behind her back, then began to speak.

"Originally, I was going to dance for you. But instead, I want to celebrate team spirit with a collaboration." She held up a small book that looked rather familiar, and it was hard to tell from here but I could swear she got that evil glint in her eyes. "So, with words by Gwen, preformed by me, enjoy." She cleared her throat, then began to read what I suddenly recognized as Gwen's diary. "Okay, so I'm trying t ignore him, but he's just _so cute_! If they had custom ordered a guy to be a distraction for me here, it would have been mc-hottie. We just _totally_ connect. He's the only person I can relate to here, and I know it's a cliché, but I _love _guys who play guitar."

_Why that little bitch! How could she do that to Gwen?!? She truly must have been born without a heart. _I saw Gwen scooting off of her seat, and then taking off into the forest, too embarrassed to endure any more.

"Thank you" said Heather, closing the book and getting up from her seat to walk off the stage, having already accomplished her mission of humiliating Gwen.

"That was _so _mean!" I said, turning to Bridgett.

"Seriously." She replied, shaking her head.

"Maybe we should go console her or something…" but I trailed off stepping out of the way as Geoff almost ran into us, getting a running start on his skateboard. He got up to speed and jumped on top of it, snapping the thing in half along with our last chance at victory. This just wasn't our day today.

"Whoa, that kinda wrecks the ride." Geoff said, staring down at the pieces of his skateboard.

"Now what?!" Bridgett yelled in panic, grabbing a hold of my shoulders. After having screwed up twice today she wanted to win this just as much as I did, knowing it was her place in this game on the line if we didn't this time. "We have to send someone out there or we're going to loose this!" She let go of my shoulders, and started biting her nails in panic.

"Katie and Sadie are both still traumatized from being covered in barf!" I replied, knowing there was no one left. Bridgett had already been our last resort.

"Well that only leaves Tyler, Duncan, or Harold! We already know Tyler stinks, what can Duncan do again?"

"Carve a picture of his own skull into a tree! What are we going to do?!" I grabbed my head in frustration, not wanting to give up after having to go though so much to try and win this challenge.

Bridgett and I peeked out from behind the stage curtain again, looking over at Harold, who was currently picking his nose. Oh god we were so doomed.

"Harold get your pasty butt down here!" I yelled at him, and he obediently came stumbling over to the back of the stage.

"What?" he asked, sounding a bit irritated with us, like it was some huge problem to walk the fifty freaking feet over here.

"Your up, so get our there!" I pushed him out onto the stage, right in front of the microphone, and stomping back over to Bridgett.

"Well, that's one way to break it to him." she said to me, and I just gave her a look before turning around to watch as Harold lost the challenge for us. But on the stage, Harold looked nervous, glancing over at us for support.

"Just go for it Harold!" I call out to him, trying to sound encouraging. "What have you got to loose?" Harold took in a deep breath, and then started his performance.

At first, it just sounded like a few random sounds, but the farther he got into it, the better and faster his beat boxing became. It picked up the pace, getting more intricate and complex with every second. It was actually… good. In fact, it was really good. So good that we might actually have a chance at winning this! In fact, if we didn't I was going to sue the pants off this show, he was just that good. I mean, yes Harold was geeky and annoy, pasty, smelly at times, had bad fashion sence,, his voice was so raspy and irritating, and he did this weird thing with his hair… wait, where was I going with this again? Oh well.

After a while, Harold song ended, and after a few moments off shock, the crowd broke out in to applause, even the Gophers were clapping for him.

"That was amazing!" I squealed, just so happy to have won this thing. Take that you lousy Gophers!

"Wicked beat boxing dude!" Chris told Harold as he walked back onto the stage, clapping. "Check it out Grand Master Chef has declared his winner! Even though they held the lead, the Screaming Gophers have been trampled by the Killer Bass."

"Harold you did it!" I cheered, as Bridgett and I ran out onto the stage to hug him, too caught up in the excitement of winning to care that it was Harold we were touching.

"That was amazing!" Bridgett agreed, as we got to Harold and wrapped out arms around either side of him.

"And as for the Screaming Gophers, pick your favorite looser, and I'll see you at the bonfire." Chris finished as Bridgett and I continued to hug Harold, but it was cut short by a certain green haired punk.

"Nice job dude. Who knew you had it in you?" Duncan told him, sliding right in between Harold and me to slap him on the back, so I no longer had contact with Harold of any kind.

_Jealous much? _ I thought, scowling inwardly, but quickly shook the thought. This was Duncan I was thinking about here, and for him to be jealous it would mean he would have to like me, which he certainly didn't.

And that was about the time is saw Heather, Gwen's diary still in her hands,and I remembered that Gwen still wasn't back yet.

I jumped off of the stage, running over to Heather and ripping the diary out of her hands.

"Hey, that's not…." But Heather stopped short when she saw the death glare I was giving her, and let me walk away without another word. I started heading towards the forest, guessing that that's were Gwen had went if she wanted any privacy around here, but was stopped by Bridgett.

"Courtney!" she called, as she ran over to me from the celebration on the stage. "Aren't you going to stay and celebrate? You work the hardest out of all of us by far to get this win, you deserve it."

"Actually, I was going to go and find Gwen." And I didn't need to say anything more then that; Bridgett just instantly got it. That was one of the great things about her. So the two of us walked off into the forest together, in search of the mysterious goth girl.

"GWEN!" we called out, but always getting no reply. After about a good twenty minutes of searching, we finally found her. She was sitting underneath a tree, her eyes red from crying.

"Gwen! Are you okay?" Bridgett called out as we rushed over to her, sitting down on the grass on either side of her.

"I-im fine." She replied, giving us a fake smile, sniffling a bit.

"You defiantly don't look like you fine." I said to her in a concerned voice, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"It's just Heather. I mean, she's just such a… a…"

"Self absorbed sadistic bitch?" I offered up, causing her to laugh slightly.

"Yeah, that. I just, I can't even begin to describe how much I hate her."

"We all do." Bridgett reassured her, and then came this kind of awkward silence that followed, where no one said anything. Realizing I still had her diary in my hands, I decided mention it to her, breaking the stillness.

"Hey, I got your journal back." I said, holding it out to her, a half smile on my face, as if this fact mad what had happened any less horrible.

"Thanks." Gwen took the journal from me, hugging it to her chest, letting out a small tear.

"Hey, don't cry!" Bridgett exclaimed I a warm voice. "We all have our secrets right? I know I do. In fact, you know, I've never told anyone this but…" she paused for a second before blurting it out, "I once had my period on a guys towel!" This didn't get much of a response out of her, so Bridgett turned to me. "And I'm sure Courtney has some kind of secret too, right Courtney?" I felt a hard jab at my side, realizing it was Bridgett's foot.

_Did I have a secret? Well yeah, I did. And it was pretty damn big one too._ But of course, I couldn't tell them that. I was just going to have to make up something else. _Or do I…_

Although I didn't know Gwen that well, I could tell she was the kind of person I could trust, and I had spent enough time with Bridgett to know that she was the same way. And it _would_ be nice to have someone on the island that I could talk to about my life, without having to hold anything back or worry about something slipping out.

Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to tell them I was Courtney Addison. I was tired of telling all these lies to people, and having to hold back my thoughts or stories about things in the conversation because they would blow my cover. I wanted, no wait, I _needed_ people who I could hang out with and just be _me_ with. Yes I had Jen to talk with, but I only got to speak with her every two days, and the conversations weren't all that long. If I couldn't be myself around anyone here at camp I was going to go crazy trying to keep lies straight.

And that's why I made the decision to say what I was about to say next. I wanted them to know the truth, and gosh darn it, I was going to tell them!

"Actually, I do have a secret." I began, looking both of them in the eyes, and delivering my lines with confidence. "A really big one at that. You see, I haven't been truthful about who I am with you. Not at all really." At this point I had gotten their full attention, both girls interested in what I had to say. "My name isn't really Courtney Mahn, and I'm not just some girl from Californian running for class office. I'm really-"

"Hey guys, you coming to dinner?!" Geoff called over to us, cutting my off from saying the two most important words in my speech.

I turned my head away from Geoff to find that both girls were looking at me intently. But Bridgett's gaze, for some reason, looked more intense, almost like she already knew what I was going to say before I said it.

"Later" she whispered to me so Geoff couldn't hear, and Gwen nodded her head sharply in agreement.

"Okay" I whispered back to both of them, but still not braking Bridgett's gaze.

"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Geoff called out, getting a bit impatient as he walked over closer to us.

"We're coming!" I called back to him, finally tearing my eyes away from Bridgett's, and got up to go with Geoff to the Lodge.

It was a quite walk back to camp, Gwen and Bridgett not talking at all as they pondered what I had almost said. Geoff and I made a pitiful attempt at small talk, but we could both feel the tension in the air from my previous speech being cut short, and it just ended up being awkward.

I ate dinner in the Main Lodge that night, not talking much, having been drained from all the stress of today's challenge, the coffee like this morning doing little to wake me up. After dinner I took a quick shower, then heading straight to bed. Gwen had to go to the bonfire ceremony, and wouldn't be back for a while. I knew I couldn't stay up that late, which meant I wasn't going to tell her and Bridgett my secret tonight, so staying up was pointless.

I walked into the cabin, heading over to the ladder to get to my bed, getting half way up it before I saw it.

There, lying on Bridgett's bed, was a magazine, laying open to a page of a huge picture a blond girl wearing a bright red bikini.

I rushed over to the bed, flipping the magazine closed, so the picture of me was hidden. True, Katie and Sadie weren't all that bright, but I didn't' want to take my chances with them finding out who I really was too. But, just my luck, there I was on the cover of the magazine too, wearing a pink floral dress. Now frustrated with magazine, I shoved it under Bridgett's pillow where no one would be able too see it. The magazine was littered with pictures of me. I remember it because the day I did the photo shoot for it my stylists kept arguing between whether to sweep my bangs to the right or the left side of my face (eventually the crew just got so fed up with them, the photographer stomped over to me, and pinned my bangs back with a clip, and that was the end of that.).

So Bridgett had figured out who I was, and all because of a dumb magazine! I just had to hope that if it was that easy to catch that no one else would figure it out while I was here. But then again, Bridgett was a smart girl, one of the smartest here. Just because she had figured it out didn't mean anyone else could.

And that's what I was thinking about as laid down to go to sleep that night, turning the though over and over again in my head until I finally drifted off into dreamland.

**So that was it! So sorry and thanks again for sticking with me. just send me and email if you would like to take this story over! **


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